


The Red Dragons

by GEStart



Category: Highschool DxD (Anime), Kamen Rider Ryuki
Genre: Crossover, Fanfiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 56,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29651124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GEStart/pseuds/GEStart
Summary: Back then, I thought fighting monster inside a mirror and participating in battle-royale style death match against other mirror-dwellers only to get one wish granted would be the craziest thing I'd ever done. But now, after moving to this Kuoh town, let's just say I couldn't be so sure about that anymore.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue (/Another Epilogue)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Guys!
> 
> This is my first time writing a fan fiction, and honestly, I'm nervous about how it's gonna turn out. Please give me some suggestion or critique if you have time.
> 
> I'm also gonna say that English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there is any grammar or spelling error. I will try my best to improve along the way, so please bear with me.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Ryuki or High school DxD.

" _Those who don't fight won't survive"_

These are the words that keep haunting me, ever since I heard it from that man. The man who had pulled me into that world... no, into that hell.

" _In the end, there will be only one rider"_

Endless fight, that keep happening for sole purpose, to achieve one's wish. Bloodbath that can't be stopped, leading to many deaths and losses. Many life being sacrificed, for one rider to stand above the others.

" _Then I'll be your proof! At the very least, I transform to defend people!"_

I had fought continuously, protecting people from 'those things' that came for their life. 'Those things' are monsters that hunted innocent people, dragged them into their world, and devoured them mercilessly.

" _Don't worry, Yui! I'll definitely help you find your brother, and end this meaningless fight altogether!"_

My promise to that girl was what made me keep fighting. Despite not having wish of my own, I fought in that harsh battle to keep my promise to her, along with defending human beings.

" _I have one wish that I have to fulfill. In order to do that, I will win this war, even if I have to kill every last one of you myself!"_

My rival, that at some point I already considered friend, declared it to me with face full of conviction and determination. Despite not wanting to do this, I still raised my weapon and met him in a duel.

" _Please stop this, Shinji-san, Ren-san! Why do both of you need to fight each other? Both of you are friend, right? There's no need to follow Nii-san's rule anymore! Just stop this fighting, please!"_

We both somehow heard her tearful pleas in midst of our sword clashes. But none of us were willing to stop. We already knew there's no turning back at that point. One must stand and the other fall, such was the rule of this war.

" _Your determination is weak, Kido. That dull blade of yours will never reach me. Now get out of my sight! Bring that kid with you and disappear! If I ever see you again, I will definitely kill you that time!"_

He said that with his blade pointed at my neck. I was on my knees, lost and gravely injured. He destroyed my source of power; my partner. With that, I was forced to resign from this war, and flee away from Tokyo.

" _Don't worry, Yui. We will be save in this new place. We can finally forget those horrible experiences. I already promised to protect you, after all."_

I said to her with every courage I could muster. It wouldn't be easy to just forget about those nightmare; I painfully aware. But regardless, I wanted to believe that we finally can live our life peacefully, without constant worrying of monster attack, or some rider (or any other psychopath being) just decide to drop by and try to kill me before lunch time.

But obviously, our luck ran out the moment I decided our destination; a small town far west of Tokyo, named Kuoh Town.


	2. My New Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Guys!
> 
> Thanks for reading my story!
> 
> *Important Stuff Starting from Here*
> 
> Alright, here I want to make everything clear about my story!
> 
> 1\. The Ryuki world in this story is COMPLETELY ALTERNATE to the real KR Ryuki world. I will still keep the important bits, but overall I will not use the original timeline of the show. I also have to tell you that I will add, cut, and change some things about the relationship of each of these characters, how the mirror world works, how the Rider War started, and even how some of the Advent Cards work. Heck, maybe I will add some new cards to some Rider's Advent Deck (complete with its AP, GP, and Effect), if I see necessary.
> 
> 2\. The characters from KR Ryuki side are ALL OC. Please hear me out on this one. See, I've made some stupid mistake about naming my characters in the prologue (I'm so sorry about that). Instead of using my original name, I use the same name as their counterpart in KR Ryuki world. Fortunately, there are only three names I'd introduced in there, and some of them are only introduced with their last name, so I made a little fixing with changing their first name. UNFORTUNATELY, my very MC had his both first name and last name spoken there, so I was stuck thinking about that for a couple of days before finally decide to stick with it.
> 
> 3\. In this timeline, the Rider War is still going on in Tokyo, none of the rider has died yet, and Shinji didn't lose his deck in his fight with Ren. I will explain about this thing in the later chapter, so please bear with it for now.
> 
> 4\. And finally, in this story, MY MC WILL NOT BE REVIVED AS A DEVIL! Yeah, you heard that right, folks! My MC WILL NOT become a devil. Heck, these Riders already got enough problems with protecting humanity from the monsters and fighting each other to the death. They definitely don't need that drama of 'Three Faction War' to make their story interesting.
> 
> And... that's about it, guys! I hope you'll enjoy the story. Again, I'm sorry if there's any grammar or spelling error.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Ryuki or High school DxD.

TRANGG...TRANGG...TRUANGG

Blade Clashes... shield parries... on and on for a long time.

Two figures are fighting on one of the tall buildings, with sun setting on the background. The red one, holding curved red sword in his right hand and shield that shaped like Japanese dragon's underside in his left, is blocking and parrying his opponent's lance, that's being constantly thrust onto his body.

The dark blue figure, the one holding the lance, seems gaining upper hand in this duel. With his superior speed and agility, he keeps forcing the red figure into defensive stance, unable to launch even a single attack.

" _Shinji-nii..."_

Meanwhile, one figure is standing on the sideline, watching the fight with teary eyes. It seems to be a girl. She's desperately crying and shouting; trying to call those two figures that are fighting in front of her right now.

" _Oyy~ please wake up, Shinji-nii..."_

TRANGG... SHRINNGGG... JLEEBB... BRUAKK...

At one point in their fight, the dark blue figure manages to create a gap in the red figure's defense, and quickly thrusting his lance through it and manage to completely stab the red figure's right shoulder. The pain makes him drop his sword and clutches his wounded shoulder instinctively. The dark blue figure does not waste any time and immediately kick the red figure in the chest, making him fall on his back.

" _... I will hit you with this dictionary if you don't wake up on the third count, Shinji-nii."_

The dark blue figure immediately puts his right foot on the red's chest, and points his lance onto him.

" _One..."_

The girl that has been watching from sideline also starts running toward them, while continuously shouting something incoherent.

" _Two..."_

The dark blue figure raises his lance, seems ready to deliver the final blow.

" _Haaa... Three."_

And just like that, he brings down his lance to the red figure's face.

_BRUUAAKKKK..._

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"GUHOHH... ARGHHH..."

I was pretty sure that would be anybody reaction when they were awoken by heavy dictionary slammed onto their stomach. And let me tell you something based on personal experience; it wasn't nice.

"Good morning, Shinji-nii. Rise and Shine!"

That cute and cheerful voice rang from beside my bed. I turned my head to look at my sister (/assailant) that was trying to open my window's curtain.

Her name is Shinozaki Yui, 15 years old. She has big brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. As usual, her flower-shaped hairpin is attached on her hair. Her always cheerful and sometimes over the top demeanor always makes her very likeable pretty much everywhere she goes.

The one trait that easily diminish her from the other girls of her age is her height though. Being only 140 cm, she is definitely the shortest high school girl I've ever met, thus make me grant her a nickname 'loli' (but don't tell her I say this, she doesn't take that nickname all too well).

Combining both her happy go lucky attitude and her small stature, she can easily pass as a cute mascot anywhere. But today, her attire was what get my attention the most.

She is wearing a uniform that consists of a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, a black shoulder cape and matching button-down corset, and a magenta skirt with white accents. Totally match her; I thought, but that's not the main point here.

"Heyyy~ are you awake yet, Shinji-nii?" said Yui while looking straight to my face and shaking my shoulder gently. "You remember we have our first day of school today, right? I don't want to be late for it," she said pleadingly, which effectively snapped me out of my daydream.

"Before that, don't you have anything to say to me first, dear sister?" I said half-jokingly. "Specifically, about **slamming my abdomen with super thick and heavy dictionary as a way of waking me up** ," I ranted like child throwing a tantrum.

My sister just pouted and immediately turned her face away, "Hummphh... that's your own fault for not waking up quickly." She then turned to me again and pointed at me with her finger, "In fact, this will be my method of waking you up hereafter. If you still insist on being a lazy head every morning, I will make your stomach get even more bruises."

God, my sister really knows how to say such a scary stuff with a cute and totally harmless voice.

Finally, I raised both of my hands. "Alright, alright, you win, sis. I'll try my best not to overslept tomorrow. I still need these intestines, after all," I said jokingly while rubbing my stomach. Hearing that, her pout disappeared, and she smiled brightly. "Good, that's my brother, alright!" She said while giving me two thumbs up.

"Now quick, wash your face and change your clothes! We have a new big day waiting for us," she said energetically while pulling me out from my bed. I lazily got up, stretched my body for a while, and let out a big yawn.

"I will wait downstairs, Shinji-nii! Breakfast is ready!" Yui said that before getting out and left me alone in my room. It allowed me to finally take a breather and calm my nerves, which made me realize that my hands were shaking all along.

 _"That dream again... this is the third time this week."_ I thought back while trying to stop my arm from shaking. I clutched my right shoulder, where my battle scar is. That memory... our last battle... it's still haunting me, as expected. Even if that event was already a month ago, I still couldn't shake that vivid image off my mind.

"I lost, huh..." I sighed and sat back on the bed. I wasn't particularly sad or disappointed because I can't participate in 'that war' anymore, mind you. It's just... losing to him left a bad taste in my mouth. Moreover, the fact that I knew the real reason why he was doing that drove me even more irritated.

Eventually, I slapped both side of my cheeks with my hands. "Stupid Shinji... this is your new life... new opportunity to start anew. Stop. Thinking. About. That. Already," I slapped myself for every word in that last sentence.

"Right, this will be my life routine from now on, better start adapting from now on," I convinced myself. As I said that, I quickly washed my face, and changed into my own set of uniform.

"Hmm... not too bad, Shinji. At least you look decent in this uniform," I praised myself as I was proudly looking at a mirror. To be honest, until a week ago, I was still kinda afraid and wary to look directly into a mirror (and considering my previously messed up life, I guess it's kinda justified, in a way or another), but after convincing myself to forget the past and live for the future, I felt it's kind of wrong to still hold fear over something like that.

So, for this entire week I had constantly challenged myself to look directly into a mirror, to prove that my fear was stupid. Now, I was pretty sure I was already cured of my mirror-phobia, and was able to stare at it just fine.

My face, as it appeared on the mirror, was not as shabby as I could remember. Black eyes and slightly pointed nose, along with my short, rather unkempt black hair are the same as always, but I could see that my expression has become more and more... relaxed, lately.

I guess considering that some heavy burdens had just been taken off my back, it was natural that my expression had changed from my usual 'just revived undead' kind, to more of 'normal lazy teenager' kind.

My height is 172 cm, which I think is average height for second year high school student. Also, while it may cannot be seen under the uniform, as I'm quite slim, I'm pretty confident about my muscle, too. After all, I spent months or so running around hunting monsters and fighting, so obviously I had to be fit both physically and mentally to keep up with that.

My uniform itself consists of a black blazer with white accents over a white, long-sleeved button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, and a matching black pants.

 **"Shinji-nii! Why are you taking so long? Come on, come eat your breakfast already so we can come to the school earlier!"** I heard my sister's shouting voice while I was busy fixing my collar. I managed to shout back, **"coming, sis!"** and was about to dash out of the room when I noticed something on my desk.

_"It's here again..."_

A rectangular, pure black object was sitting there. Actually, there was supposed to be a golden emblem engraved on the surface, but now it didn't have that anymore. While it didn't look that special on the outside, that thing had completely changed my life about a year ago.

I got a chance to become something _more,_ and gained enough power to protect my friends and family. But as a great man once said, _'With great power comes great responsibility'_ , that power also brought me suffering and lost. Until that fateful day, when this gift / curse of mine was taken away from me.

I shook my head again, then thought to myself _"Well, what could go wrong?"_ and took that rectangular object and shoved it into my pocket. While I was already determined to forget that experience, I guess just bringing it wouldn't be a problem. After all, it's a useless piece of junk now. Besides, back then I always kept this thing close to me, even closer than even my wallet and my phone. Just suddenly had to neglect it still felt somewhat weird.

Now, preparation complete! I took my school bag and dashed downstairs to meet my sister, who was ready at the dining table.

"Finally! I'm tired of waiting for you, Shinji-nii. Next time, I will not wait for you anymore, okay!" Yui said with very adorable pouting face. I chuckled slightly at that. My sister really knew how to make cute angry expression. Probably because she is so small, I could never take her seriously whenever she pouted like that (again, don't tell her I said this).

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about this, sis" I said while raising both of my hand. "You don't have to worry though, we are not even close to being late yet," I sat on the chair and took my toast. "I mean... look," I pointed to the wall clock behind me with a butter knife, which showed us that it was only 6.40 A.M., while our class starts at 8.00 A.M.

"...Well, because this is our first day in the new school in this new town, I suppose there's nothing wrong with starting earlier, right?" She said with small, almost unrecognizable voice. "It's our first school after so long, after all."

I was still able to hear her clearly, though.

" _She must be really waiting for this day,"_ I thought. Well, we certainly couldn't enjoy our school life (or any other normal life, for that matter) back then in Tokyo, so I guess it's kinda justified if she wanted to experience her school life sooner. Moreover, seeing my usually cheerful and energetic little sister hung her head dejectedly like this didn't feel right for me.

I reached out and stroked her hair. I could feel her head tensed slightly, but she didn't refuse it, so I continued for several seconds. After I released her head, she still looked downward, but I could feel her smile gradually coming back to her face. This made me breath sigh of relieve too, and soon we were back to eating our breakfast in silence.

"Hey, Shinji-nii..." Yui called me while I was busy chewing the toast. She then rose up from her chair and did a little twirl. "...What do you think about my uniform?" She asked with shy and curious tone, her face was kinda red too.

This sudden question kinda caught me off guard, but fortunately I just had to tell her exactly what's inside my mind.

"It's suit you nicely, Yui. You look good in that," I said while slightly smiling. I immediately knew that was a satisfactory answer, since Yui blushed even more intense shade of red; then immediately smiled brightly right after.

"Ehehe... Thank you. You also look cool in that, Shinji-nii!" Yui praised me with her trademark 'two thumbs up'. Our light and heart warming conversation then kept going until we both finished our breakfast.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

Our 'house' is 2-story small apartment with 2 bedrooms, small kitchen and dining room that's merged with the family room. I personally chose this place because, first, the price was... reasonable, and second, it is close to our new school. It would take us approximately 8 – 10 minutes to go there on foot, so I could proudly say that I got a good bargain.

The sky was clear when we decided to leave for school. My phone showed me that it was only 7.00 A.M. We got so much time, so we walked slowly, trying to enjoy our stroll as long as possible. Along the way, my sister walked two steps ahead of me; frolicking while humming something cheerfully.

"Careful, sis!" I warned her as I grabbed her shoulder lightly when we came across a junction with a traffic light. "I know you're excited and all, but let's not do anything that can make you be hospitalized on your first day of school, yeah?" I said with a small smile on my face.

Aaannd...that is her cute pout. "Hummphhh... I know what I'm doing, Shinji-nii. You always treat me like I'm a kid," she said while pouting. I chuckled, "I know that, but sometimes, if not often..." I held her wrist gently "...you act exactly like a child that make me have to do THIS to make sure you are safe," I said while pointing at her hand that I held.

"Whaa... whaa... uuuu..." she immediately blushed and turned her face downward, while mumbling something incoherently. She didn't pull back her arm though, so I took that as a sign that she's okay with me doing this. Like that, we walked for a few minutes before finally I could see our new school.

Kuoh Academy, the most prestigious school in this town. The main building of this school is so big that I could see it from miles away. To be honest, this school is one of my reasons for choosing this town. It is famous for being one of the best private schools in the country.

Moreover, the one thing that got me interested was the "Escalator" system that this school uses. This system will make it easier for us to go into college. As long as we can maintain our average grade in high school, there's no need to take any traditional college entrance exam.

Granted, applying into this school wasn't easy. Yui and I had to take a super difficult entrance written exam (opinion may vary), got interviewed by some senior teachers and the guidance counselor, and endured some complicated physical and mental examination. (I had a hard time convincing the examiner that the nasty scar on my shoulder, along with some others on many parts of my body, were results of a past accident, not from street fighting)

But after waiting for the result for a few days, we received a letter that said we both passed the entrance exam, and might attend the classes starting today. Really, I was so glad I passed, because truth to be told, I wasn't confident about my written test's score.

"Woahhh... look at that, nii! Look at that!" Yui jumped up and down energetically like a kangoroo on steroid, all while pointing and staring at the school building with sparkling eyes. Seriously, if I wasn't holding her arm, I was pretty sure she's immediately gonna dash toward the school and left me alone here, with my mouth agape.

" **I wonder how's the inside of that building!? Will we really study there from now on!? I hope my classmate will be nice to me! Oh, I wonder what club should I join into! Maybe cooking club, or basketball club, uhh... but I'd like to try handicraft club as well! What should I dooo? Neee...Shinji-nii, what should I...** ummpphhh~"

"Alright... easy...easy there, sis" I grabbed her hand more sternly and put my hand on her mouth, thus preventing her from spouting another session of non-stop ranting. She immediately stared at me with eyes of protest. Goshh... while this over-energetic demeanor is one of her cute traits, I had to be honest that dealing with it every time we came to a new place or environment has gotten pretty annoying.

Fortunately, I'm a man with a high level of patience and tolerance.

"Look, sis... I really hate to keep reminding you of this, but do you remember what happened the last time you started babbling around like this?" I stared back at her. Probably started to understand what I was talking about, her eyes soften a little. Now I wouldn't tell you what happened here, folks. Explaining that would require me to make another full chapter on its own. So, let's move on.

I then removed my hand from her mouth and rubbed her hair with it. "Now, if you've calmed down a little bit, how about we continue walking? I guess we already got enough attention for this morning, right?" I said while showing her our surrounding. Sure enough, many people were staring at us (or at her, specifically) and some even snickering at our 'antics'.

Fortunately, I didn't see anyone wearing our school uniform among all these people (It's good thing that we left early). The last thing I wanted was our name became suddenly famous among the students as 'comedic sibling', even before we actually enrolled yet.

It took us no more than a few more minutes to finally arrived at the school's gate. And woohh boy, did this place look even more awesome up close. The biggest building (I assumed it would be where the classrooms were at) stood tall in front of us. I couldn't help but staring with awe for a few seconds there, and considering my sister didn't go into her hyperactive mode while I was busy daydreaming, I guess she couldn't help but being fascinated as well.

"Oyy... nii, are you okay? What are you staring at with dumfounded expression like that?" Small tug at my sleeve snapped me off my daze, and I turned to face my sister, who was grinning like hell at me.

"I guess even you would get bewildered at something like this, eh, Shinji-nii? Hihihi... your expression looked really weird. If you keep making that dumb expression, you may not be able to make any friend, you know," she said with playful tone.

Goshh... patient that I might be, being called weird by my hyperactive little sister ticked me off for some reason.

"Oh, shut up, sis" I said as I poked her forehead with my fingers. "Don't make me start with your even weirder antics. And truthfully, I have a lot of that up my sleeve. Do you remember when you..." I bragged proudly, started to recite every 'unique' deed she had ever done. She then countered me by reciting every last one of my 'funny expression' that she remembered (Heck, she even took some picture out of it).

After some more series of joking and teasing each other, we started laughing and giggling together like crazy. Ahhh... what a peaceful day it is. I honestly wouldn't mind if this became our routine from now on. I just had to make sure we'd always come to school earlier so...

"May I ask what are you two laughing at here, in front of the school gate?"

... nobody would see...or hear...us.

...

"I will ask again, what are you two doing in front of the school ground?

...

... Yep, we're screwed.

I slowly turned my head to meet the person who had witnessed our comedy gag routine, while my mind was working on a plan about how to silence him/her.

... and I got, at least, 2 bad news immediately.

First bad news: The person was a girl. Why it was bad news, you ask? Well, because based on my personal experience (living with my sister, and all), I knew girls were a creature that love gossip. And that means, if they decided to share some gossips between themselves, chances are high that any matter they were gossiping about would be known throughout the entire school within less than 48 hours.

Second bad news: She is not alone. There was another girl behind her, and both of them were looking at me with the same condescending and accusing glare.

 _"Darn it all,"_ I cursed under my breath. Silencing one would already be hard enough, now I had to silence 2 of them?

I thought my answer really hard while steadying my breath, then answered with the most courage I could muster.

"Uu...umm... w-w-we...we were, umm... I... I mean... umm... it's actually... umm..."

... not the smoothest answer, I know. But hey, on my defense, I was panic.

While I was stuttering incoherently, I could feel these 2 girls' gaze grew even colder and harsher. I guess it's almost the time when they deemed me as asylum's escapee and called the cops to arrest me.

...but of course, before my sister decided to give me a hand in the most horrible way imaginable.

"Ohh... you see, we were just laughing at this," she said while showing these 2 girls her phone, which still displaying a picture of me, sleeping sideways with the most hilarious (/ridiculous) smile I had ever made, completed with my exposed belly button and drool on the side of my mouth.

... Yep, there goes my reputation. Even before I was actually enrolled, mind you.

...

... Oh right, please remind me to strangle this evil loli sister of mine later.

After staring at the picture for a couple of seconds, the first girl (the shorter one with short bob-styled black hair and glasses) turned her face toward mine, while having this complicated expression; like she wasn't sure whether to laugh, apologize, or feel outright disgusted by that photo (possibly all three at the same time).

The second girl though (the long, black haired one, also with glasses), was trying her best to suppress her laughter. She turned her face away from us, her body bent forward as she put her hand on her mouth, but ultimately failed to hold her laughter in, resulting in one scary giggle that you'd normally hear in a horror movie.

"Ehemm... Tsubaki, behave," the shorter girl coughed. After a while, her laughter finally subsided, and she immediately correct her standing posture, and fixed her expression back to poker face, though I could feel that she's still looking at me funnily.

"I... Well, I guess that was... interesting(?)" The shorter girl was trying her best to give a comment, even though it's so obvious that she wasn't really sure what to say about that picture (at this point, I wasn't sure whether to thank her for not laughing at my embarrassing photo, or to feel downright offended because she didn't even smile at my funny photo)

"I guess I have to apologize for suspecting both of you as suspicious people earlier," she said, although her face didn't really show that she's sorry or anything. "It's just... I've never seen both of you before," she was looking at both of us back and forth. "Is it possible that... you two are..."

"Oh yeah, we haven't introduced ourselves..." I said something quickly, to change the mood that had become too formal there. "I'm Kido Shinji, and this is Shinozaki Yui..." I said as I bowed my head, and made sure that Yui also did the same. "...We are transfer student from Tokyo. We are supposed to enroll here starting from today. Please treat us well."

The shorter girl stared at us for a few seconds, before saying "Hmm... alright, then you two may as well come with us now. We can give you a little tour around the school after you're done with the enrollment paperwork," she said as she walked past me and through the school gate.

That offer surprised me a little, honestly. You might call me shallow for judging a book by its cover, or in this case, a girl by her expression and overall body posture. Her stern expression and overall no-nonsense attitude gave me impression that she was not a type of kind-hearted person who would just easily help others unless it's really her responsibility to do so.

 _"I really should stop judging people from their outer appearance,"_ I scolded myself in my heart.

"Umm... I really appreciate your concern and all, but I don't really think you should waste your time for us, though," I said to her as we all walked behind her. "After all, we don't really know how long this paperwork will be, and I'm sure this school has already arranged someone to give us a tour around academy. So... yeah, we'd like to thank you and your friend here for your kindness, but I think we can handle ourselves from here on," I said with certainty.

The shorter girl that had been walking in front of us stopped after hearing my words. She then turned back to face me, gazing at intently me with that violet eyes. I averted my eyes, probably blushing, and before long she said, "Do you know your way to the faculty office, Kido-san?" she asked me with a flat tone.

I considered my answer, before finally shook my head. She curled her lips upward a little, forming a very thin smile, before saying, "well, I guess it's partially our fault for not introducing ourselves sooner."

Before I had an opportunity to ask what she was talking about, she adjusted her glasses and started talking, "Greetings Kido Shinji-san, Shinozaki Yui-san. My name is Shitori Sona, 3rd year high school student, also the president of the student council in Kuoh Academy. And she is Shinra Tsubaki, my vice president of the student council, also 3rd year high school student."

At that point, I was pretty sure my expression must be really funny, because she... I mean Shitori-senpai was literally smirking in amusement.

"Now, if you have any other question, feel free to ask about them in the student council room. You two have many paper to fill and you certainly don't want you to miss your academy tour just because you can't finish them in time, right?" She asked that rhetorical question before turned around and continued walking toward the school building, leaving me and Yui dumbfounded.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Gosh darn... my hand," I croaked while massaging my right hand, after finally finished with that mountains of paperwork. Yui had done filling with her forms sooner than I had, and now was happily enjoying her tea, courtesy of Shinra-senpai.

"Are you done, Kido-san?" Shitori-senpai who was sitting behind her desk asked me. She was checking Yui's papers, and soon would checked mine too. "If you're done, please wait for me to do quick checking for all of these. After I'm done, we'll arrange the academy tour," she said with her eyes still glued to the paper. I guess she really is a serious type, huh.

I sipped my tea while looking at my surrounding. This student council room is quite large, with many fancy decorations spread across the room, bookshelves lined along the wall, and some working desks neatly organized on one side of the room. We ourselves were sitting on the sofa in one corner of the room.

"If I may ask, where's the other member, senpai? Isn't a student council supposed to have more members, like secretary, treasurer and stuff?" I opened my mouth to start a conversation with Shinra-senpai, who conveniently was standing near us all along.

"We do have more members, it's just they're not usually standing by here in the morning unless we have some urgent matters to discuss. So, it's usually only me and Kaichou who are here in the morning," Shinra-senpai explained to me. "Plus, it's actually still quite too early for anyone to arrive at school, so I assume our members are not even in school yet," she added.

I peered at my phone, and sure, it was still 7.15 A.M. I guess the only few students who would want the come to school this early were they who had club activities, or were just really bored at home (it's neither of those reason in our case, though)

Silence washed over us once again. I guess both Shitori-senpai and Shinra-senpai were not really a type of person who could entertain their guests. I was just thinking of breaking the ice, when my little sister decided to do that for me in her own unique style.

"Nee...nee... Shinji-nii, look what I drew," she suddenly tugged my sleeve and showed me her drawing; a very neat and clear portrait of Shitori-senpai checking the forms, that she somehow managed to finish under 5 minutes using nothing but a pencil.

Heh... as much as I thought she's annoying and noisy, I couldn't deny that she got a real talent in art, especially in drawing portrait.

I smiled at her and rubbed her hair, "It's pretty, as always. You should show it to her later," I commented.

"Hehehe... thank you, nii. You're the best," after she said that and smiled brightly at me, she stood up and brought her portrait to Shinra-senpai, asking her opinion. I could see Shinra-senpai expression changed a little, becoming more surprised and amazed at the same time. Yui's drawing skill often left impression on people, that's for sure.

Almost at the same time, Shitori-senpai stood up from her chair, "I'm done with the checking. Now if you two are ready... what is that, Shinozaki-san?" Senpai asked after she caught a glimpse of Yui's masterpiece. Yui brought her drawing and showed it to her. After staring at it for a few seconds, senpai adjusted her glasses and smiled a little, "This is... beautiful, Shinozaki-san. Thank you," she said, her voice sounded relaxed.

"Ehehe... you can keep it, senpai! After all, I can draw something that catchy only because I got a beautiful model, so consider that my gift of friendship please," she said that one hell of a pick-up line while grinning and making a V-sign toward senpai.

Senpai seemed to consider something, before finally said, "Alright Shinozaki-san, I accept this gift of yours," she said, putting the drawing on her desk, "but for now, I believe we have more important thing to do, no?" She said to both of us, while adjusting her glasses. I started to think this 'adjusting the glasses' thing was her trademark. After all, it suited her cool and serious demeanor very nicely.

I nodded and Yui hopped around in joy shouting "Yayy~ Yaayyy~~" until I grabbed her shoulder to restrain her. Afterward, we were brought for academy tour; when unfortunately, I got my first friend that'd later prove to be my first problem, sneaking around behind the dojo.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

I thought this school was big when we first saw it from the front gate. But after this tour, I could see that this school is actually HUGE. Because this school houses an escalator system, it has all grades from 1st-University separated by Elementary, Junior High, Senior High, and College divisions.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration either to say that this school has EVERYTHING. Football field, baseball field, tennis court, training ground, pool, and heck, even dojo. I guess it didn't get famous as 'the most prestigious school in the country' for nothing, after all.

Shinra-senpai was the only one who gave us the tour, though. Shitori-senpai said she was busy with something else, so she apologized and told Shinra-senpai to take us around the academy, and made sure we attended our respective classes on time.

"...and that conclude our academy tour. Is there any question?" Senpai said, concluding our tour around the school. "Now, if there's none, I will lead both of you to meet your respective homeroom teachers, and then they will be the one to take you to your classroom," she said as she turned and walked back to the school building.

"Umm... actually senpai, you haven't take us to see that building yet," I said while pointing at one seemingly deserted building, which was isolated in the middle of the woods. That mysterious building caught my attention because the structure of that building seemed very similar to our school building's, only smaller in size.

Shinra-senpai turned to face me, her expression suddenly darkened. After considering her answer, she said with a very low and (somehow) threatening voice. "I... suggest that you don't go near that building at all, Kido-san," her voice was so scary and carried so much authority that I couldn't even ask 'why'. The only thing I could muster was a simple "okay" without any more question whatsoever.

"Th-then, may I at least, umm... take a closer look at the dojo over there?" I said, pointing at the dojo located not so far beside us. Senpai pondered for a few minutes, then sighed, "Just for a few minutes, Kido-san. We can't have you late to class on your first day," she said while huffing, then continued, "Your sister and I will wait for you at the teacher's room, then."

She walked to the school building, and Yui followed her before shouted "bye~~ Shinji-nii~, don't be late, okay!" while waving at me from afar.

I sighed and looked at the dojo once again. I could see some students were already coming in and out of the dojo, maybe for their morning practice. To be honest, I wasn't really interested in whatever they're doing at the dojo. I'd never been in any martial arts club before, but that didn't mean I'd never gone into a dojo, though. After all, back then I often trained with...

I lost in my thought, remembering the time when I often had a spar with my rival. Back then, we often met at a dojo to have a mock battle, honing our skill together to survive in...

...No, bad, bad Shinji! No more unnecessary flashback! Stop remembering about that time already.

I scolded myself and clicked my tongue. Goshh... I couldn't believe I risked getting on senpai's bad side just because I want to recall a nostalgic past, that WASN'T EVEN a good past, mind you. I glanced at the dojo once again, determined to forget that event. I just intended to walk away from the dojo, when I saw something weird in the corner of my eyes.

The bushes that lead to the back of the dojo swayed, as if something was moving along behind them. And somehow, I had a feeling that it wasn't an animal.

Out of curiosity, I followed that 'thing' silently (wouldn't want anybody to caught me sneaking around, right?) through the bushes, and finally saw what (or rather, who) it was after he stopped right under the dojo's back window.

One student with short spiky brown hair and wearing the same uniform as I wore, albeit his dress shirt and blazer were fully unbuttoned and showing red T-shirt underneath, was kneeling and rummaging through the wall; maybe searching for something. I kinda observed him for a few moments to see what he's on about, before finally addressed him.

"Hey, dude. What are you doing?" I asked politely.

"WOAHH..." answered by an impolite screaming by the guy in question.

_"Hey, does anyone hear that?"_

_"There's someone screaming."_

_"I think that came from the back."_

_"I swear if it's those perverts again..."_

_"Let's check it out!"_

That's what I heard the next moment. Many girls voice that came from inside the dojo.

"Ahhh, crap..." the boy suddenly put his hand on my mouth and dragged me deeper into the bushes. I tried to struggle at first, but after seeing girls came around bringing _shinai_ (wooden swords), wearing malice expression, and all while having this sort of familiar (for me, anyway) killing intent emitted into the air, I immediately followed him and cowered even deeper into the bushes.

Those girls looked for us, beating around the bushes. They'd soon find us if we didn't do something fast enough. Crap, maybe if I could make a distraction...

"MEOOWWW..."

...

... I was stunned. Those girls were also stunned. After swallowing audibly, I groggily turned my face in horror to meet the source of that voice.

My partner in crime was there, grinning like an idiot that he is. I wasn't sure whether it's because he seriously believed he had saved us, or it's just an ironic smile because he knew soon we were gonna be judged harshly by a bunch of angry girls with wooden swords.

_"Ehh... that was just a cat~?"_

_"Huh, we just wasted our time."_

_"That cat sure sounded cute, though."_

_"Let's go back inside. Buchou will be mad if she finds us out here for no reason."_

...

... Holy hell, did that really just happen?

Seconds passed, then minutes. After we're sure those girls weren't looking for us anymore, we slipped past them and booked it outta there. After that, we found ourselves sitting on the lawn beside the training ground, gasping for breath.

 **"Woohhh... Hell yeahh! We escaped, mannn! How's my plan, huh? Pretty sweet, right! I should've done that more often! HAHAHAHA..."** The brunette boy recovered very fast, as now he was doing victory celebration and laughing like a madman. I honestly didn't know what to do about him, nor I had any energy left to retort him, so I settled by a simple, "Whatever, dude," while still sitting tiredly on the lawn.

"Hey, hey, are you a new transfer student? I've never seen your face around here," he addressed me suddenly, which made me answered with a simple "yeah..." before sitting up straight.

"Name's Kido Shinji, 2nd year of high school. And if I may ask, what the heck were you doing back there?" I offered him my hand.

He shook it while saying, "I'm Hyoudou Issei, 2nd year of high school too, just call me Issei, though. As what I was doing there, ehehe..." He suddenly smiled so lecherously, which made me let go of his hand pretty fast.

"You could say I was making preparation this afternoon event. In fact, you can join if you want to," he said confidently with a wide smile, which made me wonder whether he'd forgotten that we were almost got killed on that place, or he was just a masochist that secretly wanted to be beaten by those girls.

"You know what, Issei? After what happened this morning, I think I'm not gonna be anywhere near that dojo for a few days forward. In fact, I was about to suggest you to do the same," I explained, and added, "but out of curiosity, what you were planning there, was it..."

He then grinned so wide that I was afraid his mouth might get ripped-off. "Of Course! Today, I'm gonna get a glance of the view of heaven, take a sip of Shangri-La in this world, visit a promised land and finally taste its forbidden fruit. YES, TODAY I WILL...ummppghh!"

"Alright, enough dude! I think I, AND THEM has heard enough of your plan, so please stop shouting before someone decided to call police to arrest you here and now," I said eagerly while covering his mouth before someone record that and use it to put him into a jail. Oh, and by someone, I mean EVERY LAST ONE of girls around that has been looking at us with disgusted and offended gaze.

... Once again, my reputation got easily destroyed.

Finally, I removed my hand from his mouth. He quickly inhaled some air, then enthusiastically said, "C'mon man, you don't have to be so shy. It's not every day occasion that I was able to find that peephole. You should feel lucky that I even invited you. Besides, I'm sure that's one of your reasons for transferring here," he said with such a passionate expression, like a kid that just got his first Playstation.

At this point, I made a silent vow in my heart to never let this guy meet Yui. Aside from his downright perverted nature that would get me to slap him the moment he stared at my sister lecherously, I genuinely thought this guy and his over-excessive energy would get along nicely with her; and that exactly was the scary part. Having one Yui in my life was already tiring enough. Adding one more of her kind tag-teaming up against me, I'd be damned for life.

... Speaking of Yui, why did I feel like I was forgetting something?

"What're you talking about? What reason do you think I have?" Instead, I addressed his statement about my reasoning. He then spread his arm, "well... of course it's to be surrounded by many beautiful girls and having your own harem, right?" and said that with confidence.

...

...

I wouldn't even lie, I was flabbergasted even more than usual. My mouth were probably hanging open right now. There were so many things I wanted to retort about his statement, but because my mind was still in a state of heavily shocked, I could only manage to say, "you're kidding, right?" which summarized pretty much everything in my mind.

"Why would I be? This school's full of very beautiful girls, and according to the students' gender ratio, each one of boys can have 4 girls for himself. How awesome is that, huh?" He said proudly while puffing his chest. "Just wait and see, Kido. Soon, I will become a harem king and conquer every last one of girls in this school! MUAHAHA..." and started laughing hysterically again.

Even though I tried my very best to ignore his nonsense, one statement actually caught my attention. He said '4 girls for every 1 boy'. Does this mean the ratio of girls and boys here were really that askew? Moreover, when I thought about it, the number of girls I'd seen walked past us for several minutes being in here were certainly much bigger than the boys.

Heck, I guess even the fact that the president and vice president of student council were both girls should have had already conveyed more than enough about the power hierarchy in this school.

Not that it's really a matter to me, mind you. I didn't really care even if the power balance really favored girl. After all, I wasn't planning in joining any club, let alone student council. As long as I could keep living in peace like this, anything's fine by me.

Although if I could find something to be grateful with, I guess it would be because now Yui would has more female friends she could talk to.

... Why did I keep feeling like I was forgetting something? This time it's something about the president and/or vice president of the student council.

"I... honestly didn't know about that," I answered after pondering for a while. "Woahh... really?" Issei sounded genuinely surprised, and for some reason that got me irritated. "Well... you see, this school was formerly a girl's school, and just changed into a co-ed school a couple of years ago. So, it's given that there are still more girls than boys," he explained.

" _Huh... weird. I must've missed that piece of information from the article,"_ I pondered, while slowly recalling the moment when I read the article about this school from the internet.

"Anyway, I'm sorry Issei but I'm not gonna participate in your little 'event'," I made air quote with my fingers. "I wouldn't try to stop you, though. Just try not to get caught, kay?" I stood up and looked at him.

His expression turned upset for a second, but a second later it was bright again. "Hmm... alright then," this time, he offered his hand, "but how about we hang out sometimes eh, Kido?" he sounded kinda wishful.

I actually pondered about that for a second. If that made me seem like a jerk who was picky at choosing friend, maybe it's because I was. I'd learn hard way that choosing a good friend could easily boost your chance in everything, and even saved your life. On the contrary, wrong friends could get you dragged into many kind of messes and even got you killed.

Issei seemed like a good guy, even with his questionable hobby. I only considered whether his 'antics' would someday get me into trouble. But I guess it's kinda unfair for me to judge him badly because of something trivial like that. I mean, we gotta admit every male got an interest in that area. I guess his interest was just slightly bigger than most of us.

Finally, I took his hand and shook it, "Sounds fun. Coincidentally, I'm actually kinda new with this town too. If you can show me around later, that would be good," I said while smiling. "And oh, you let me call you by your given name, so I guess it'd be only fair if I let you call me Shinji, too," I added.

"Yeah! It's a deal, Shinji!" He said before we both walked together to the school building. _"Hmm... my very first friend on my very first day. Not a bad start, Shinji."_ I muttered happily to myself.

So far so good in starting my new life, even though I was kinda worried about my 'reputation' point. Everything went smooth and peaceful, and I hoped it'd stay like that as long as possible.

But of course, even my moment of peace was usually pretty short-lived.

"Oh yeah dude, I was about to ask..." Issei called me. "...What class are you in? Have you got that yet?" He asked. "Well, actually I was supposed... to..." I stopped dead in my track. Sweat drenched my back and I gulped after finally remembered what I was forgetting about.

" _Just for a few minutes, Kido-san. We can't have you late to class on your first day."_

" _bye~~ Shinji-nii~, don't be late, okay!"_

...

...

...

"OH SHIITTT~ I FORGOT ABOUT THEM!"

And just like that, I dashed at full speed, leaving Issei behind without even saying anything. The only thing on my mind that time was how screwed would I be if I late.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

The good news was: I technically wasn't late.

The bad news was: Shinra-senpai wasn't happy.

I barely arrived at the teacher's room when the bell rang. Shinra-senpai was waiting for me outside of the room, standing upright with her hands folded in front of her chest, and generally looked very pissed.

"...Do you have anything you want to say, Kido-san?" She growled very menacingly that made me had to resist myself from falling on my knees whimpering, doing _dogeza_ on the spot, or just ran away screaming like a little girl.

The best thing I could muster (that wouldn't make me sounded **too much** of a coward) was, "I'm so sorry! Please don't kill me! I promise this won't happen again!" all while bowing completely 90 degrees (please don't judge)

I heard Shinra-senpai sighed, then told me to raise my head. "...but I will personally put you into my watchlist from now on, Kido-san. If you pull something like this again, I'll assure you that Kaichou will hear about this matter," and immediately threatened me like that.

Oh great, just great... vice president of the student council has her eyes set on me on my first day of the school. Just my rotten luck.

I peeked inside the teacher's room. Some teachers were already preparing to go for their homeroom. Some who were not, were flocking together in the middle of the room. In the center of them all, was my sister telling jokes and laughing, and was followed by all the teachers present.

Some teachers rubbed her hair and pinched her cheek slightly, like they were comparing her to a small hamster. Heck, she had even already got a present, as she was sucking a lollipop, maybe was given by one of the teachers.

Wow, my sister and her magnetic personality still impressed me even until now.

Finally, Shinra-senpai called Yui over, and introduced me to one of the teacher that was supposed to be my homeroom teacher. She then excused herself to attend her own class. Yui and I once again apologized for the trouble we had caused her, before she walked away.

Before we parted ways, Yui and I made a promise to go home together after school ended. After that, we followed our respective homeroom teacher to our respective class.

My HR teacher stopped at one of the classroom, which was class 2-B according to the sign. My teacher went in first, after told me to wait for his signal before coming in. After the signal came out, I went in and wrote my name on the blackboard.

" _This is it, Shinji,"_ I prepared myself. I breathed while standing facing my classmate. _"Your first introduction. Don't mess it up! Don't mess..."_

**"Ohhh... Shinji! Yooshaa~ you're in our class! Hell Yeah!"**

Before I got a chance to even say anything, someone shouted pretty loud, which made everybody's attention, including mine, switched to him.

The guy, of course, was my perverted first friend that I just met this morning, Hyoudou Issei. He was waving at me from his chair, smiling widely as always.

... I wasn't sure why, but I got this ominous feeling that he gonna ruin my introduction if I didn't do something quick.

"Oh, you know our new transfer student, Hyoudou?" My teacher asked Issei. He then answered energetically, "Of course, sensei! We just become best buddies this morning, after he helped me peek... No, I mean helped me with my, umm... chores. Yeah, chores and stuff."

...

...

Did he just say that I helped him 'peek'?

... And why did all these girls suddenly glare at me like I was cockroach that had to be stomped flat right here and now?

I wasn't exaggerating that last sentence, you know. After Issei made that statement, all of the girls in the class (which were significantly more than the boys) shifted their hateful and disgusted glare toward me. Good God, I swear if stares had physical form, I'd be full of holes right now.

"Is that so? Well then Kido, I guess you'll be sitting beside Hyoudou from now on." The situation got even worse when my teacher just placed me in the worst seat possible. And I hadn't even started my introduction, for swivel sake!

But looking at my classmates, I immediately knew they were not interested about my introduction anymore. So I just sucked it, dragged my body sluggishly to my seat, while trying my best to ignore these piercing glares that came from every direction. Issei though, seemed fine with it and even welcomed me to my table.

And just like that, my supposedly peaceful school life crumbled down in front of my eyes.

...

... Just added one name in my 'to-strangle' list.

* * *

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* * *

The rest of that day was, well... which one do you think it was?

a) Awful

b) Terrible

c) Horrible

d) All of the above

If your answer were one of the answers above, well... congratulations! You deserved a cookie.

Nobody in my class would talk to me, so I was stuck with Issei (the very man who caused this mess in the first place) and his two also perverted friends, the monk, Matsuda, and the one with glasses, Motohama. They were overjoyed when Issei introduced me to them, and even more when they heard I had never had a girlfriend before, thinking they'd got another brother-in-arms.

They started to show me some of their 'precious collections' (why would they bring that thing to school, I have no idea), some erotic photos that Matsuda took (How could he not in jail yet, I don't know), and even invited me to participate in one of their _not-so-legal_ , and I quote, 'field activities' (no comment).

Of course, I refused all of that. Just so you know, it's not like I wasn't interested to, ehemm... female body, or anything. It's just very uncomfortable for me to discuss something like this when EVERY GIRL IN THE CLASS COULD HEAR US, FOR HOLY SWIVEL SAKE!

And they WERE listening. After all, these 3 talked with such a loud voice without caring about their surroundings. All girls in the class literally inched away from our group, all while whispering something horrible about us. I particularly heard one girl said...

_"They finally will evolve from 'perverted trio' to 'perverted quartet' this time. What a creepy bunch~"_

...

...

... God, what did I do wrong today?

This nonsense kept on happening for the rest of the day. I was tired of this, so I slept throughout the rest of the classes until the last bell rang. After that, I quickly packed my bag, and just about to ran out of the class when I heard that annoying and obnoxious voices called out to me for the hundredth times today.

"Yooo~ brother! How about our scheduled 'activities' today, eh? You coming or what?"

That was, of course, the perverted trio again as nobody beside them would talk to me. I sighed, then said with the calmest voice I could muster right now, "I told you guys already, I'm not coming. And please stop calling me brother."

"Nonsense! Of course you're our brother! In this school full of beautiful babes, we, the unpopular ones, should always stick together and keep trying to pursue our sole dream, to become the master of the true art of erotica. Isn't that right guys?" Issei declared that proudly, and his friends cheered with him "OOHHHH..."

" _I don't have time for this nonsense,"_ I clicked my tongue. As much as I wanted to shout at them to leave me alone, I knew better that doing it will backfired at me sooner than later.

People were already thinking that I was one of them. They wouldn't change their opinion toward me just because I stopped hanging out with these guys. As much as I hate to admit it, these people ARE my friend now. They have to be. If they stopped being my friend, I would end up being a loner; unable to get any allies anywhere else (and trust me on this, in this society, it's better to have a messed-up friend rather than no friend at all)

Fortunately, I am a man with high level of patience and tolerance. So instead of lashing out at them, I held myself back and said, "Listen dude, I'm happy about the invitation and all, but I got this problem at my home that's rather important. So I'm sorry but I can't go with all of you today," I clasped both of my palm together in front of my face to apologize.

"Hmm... if that's so, I guess it's okay, then," Matsuda said and Motohama nodded in agreement. "But remember dude, you can always join us whenever you want. Cause as I said earlier, we must stick together. We're friends after all," Issei added that as he patted my back, then they left me alone to go to their 'spot'.

"Friends, huh..." I muttered to myself, then picked up my bag and walked out of the class. Now I only had to call Yui to asked where was her. I reached for my phone in my pocket, but halted my step when I noticed something in my pocket was missing.

"My deck... SHIT, MY DECK!" I shouted in panic, and immediately ran back to the classroom. I searched every desk, starting from mine. I also searched every last inch of the classroom. I found nothing. Frustrated, I ran out of the classroom to searched somewhere else. I couldn't even think about where to look, I just searched blindly for several minutes until my phone rang.

It was Yui. Shit, I even forgot that I promised to go home with her. I sat on the stairs, catching my breath for several seconds before I picked the phone up.

"NIII~! Where are you? Are you still in the school? I've been waiting at the gate for half an hour now! Oyy... Shinji-nii, do you hear me?" She said continuously without stopping. I calmed myself down, took a deep breath.

"Calm down, sis, calm down. To answer your question, Yes, I'm still at school, and actually umm..." I stopped, thinking about how to say it without making her cut my dinner portion into half, "...actually, can you go home alone just for today? Umm... I got this important assignment from my teacher that's kinda important, sooo... I think I can't go home with you today."

Silence for a few seconds, before Yui said, "...you just lied, didn't you?" with a mix of angry and worried tone.

Shit, she's sharp!

"Nii, what happened?" Her tone back to normal and asked me with a worried voice.

I sighed. Realizing that I couldn't lie to her, I finally said, "... I lost something. I'm looking for it now, but I'm not sure I can find it fast enough. Just go home first, Yui. I'll catch up to you after I find it."

Yui then offered to help me, but I decline as I couldn't let her know what I was losing. She would be very angry if she knew I still brought my deck to school. After all, I promised her I wouldn't be involved with 'that world' anymore.

She hung up after wishing me good luck. Now calmed down, I started to think where was it possibly lost, and there were two specific places came into mind. It made sense, because I was in those places this morning, and maybe my deck was dropped there.

With that conclusion in mind, I stood up and walked to the first place that came to my mind.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

Once again, I stood in front of the student council room. Gosh, this place is still intimidating even if this was my second time here today. After gathering my courage, I knocked on the door.

One second... two seconds... three seconds passed. I was about to knocked once more before somebody in the room finally said, "Come in."

I came in, and found Shitori-senpai sitting alone behind her desk; staring at me sharply. This time I didn't see Shinra-senpai, or any of the member for that matter, but I didn't have any time to ask about that now. I stated my intention even before she had a chance to ask what's going on.

"I'm sorry for coming here this late, senpai. But the thing is, I lost something this morning. I just wanna ask whether you or your member see it in this room. It's a black rectangular thing, about this size..." I didn't waste my time and immediately cut into the case, explaining about the shape and size of my deck. Senpai didn't say anything during my explanation. Instead, she just listened patiently.

After I'm done with my rant, senpai spoke, "I understand, Kido-san. But unfortunately, I didn't see something like that all this time. Maybe I could try asking it to my members later."

"Yeah please do, senpai!" I said and bowed my head. "Now if you'll excuse me, I still have to look for it somewhere else. Good evening, senpai!" I said as I turned to the door.

"Wait a minute!" Senpai raised her voice to call me before I reached the door. "Don't call me senpai. Call me 'Kaichou', understand?" she ordered. I smiled at that, "Okay, kaichou! See you later!" and said that as I ran out of the room.

" _Yoshh... now for the other place. God... I hope they are done with whatever they're doing there,"_ I honestly prayed like that, as I was running toward the dojo.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Finally, you really come!"

... OH GOSH DARN IT!

It was already pretty late when I arrived at the back of the dojo, so I genuinely hoped these perverted trio had done with their 'important activities' and went home so I could search for my deck without anyone bothering me. But apparently God was particularly pissed at me today so nothing I wished came true.

There, Issei and his two friends were all sitting together around the bushes, waiting for something. After he saw me coming, Issei stood up and waved at me. I didn't want to get involved with whatever they're doing, but seeing that I had to find my deck, I sucked my pride in and walked to them.

"Hey guys..." I said, trying my best to keep my smile on. "...Are you haven't done with the pe... ehemm... peeping yet?" I lowered my voice to say that last sentence.

"We haven't even started yet, man!" Matsuda complained at me, throwing his hand into the air in frustration. Motohama fixed his glasses and spoke to me, "I heard the kendo team will face some kind of competition soon. Maybe that's why their training took even longer than usual."

Issei then tapped my shoulder and spoke to all of us, "Hey, look at the bright side, man! Now our group is complete! We can do everything together now, and we can start by savoring these feast that soon will appear in front of our eyes together! Banzai!" Issei shouted, and his friends followed.

I rolled my eyes looking at this nonsense. I guess these guys forgot that peeping was supposed to be something illegal that you did in stealth, and they just shouted pretty loud like it's not a big deal.

It's fine, I guess. I'll just wait with them for a few minutes. When they were busy peeping later, I could...

"SHIT, DUCK!" Issei suddenly pushed my head down. We crouched together, and suddenly I could hear many girls' voice entering the room behind the dojo wall.

"Yeahh! Finally!" They whispered among each other excitedly. While they were busy struggling to look through one peephole that I guess Issei had just found for them this morning, I slipped away from them, and slowly crawled under the bushes where I hid with Issei this morning.

I rummaged through the bushes, and after not so long, I finally found the thing I lost. My deck was sitting there on the grass among leaves. I must've dropped it when I hid here this morning. After breathing sigh of relief, I grabbed it and crawled back to where the trio was. I was about to slip away from them unnoticed when I saw them and froze.

They weren't peeping anymore. They were staring in horror at something besides us. I slowly followed their line of sight, and...

_...It was at this moment that we all knew, we fucked up..._

"As we thought, it's really you guys again..." one of the girls, who were now surrounding us with full kendo gear, growled angrily with eyes full of bloodlust. "...and look, you even bring someone new with you," she said, turning her attention toward me.

None of us dared to move. Shit, even though I was no stranger to people trying to kill me, these girls' bloodlusts were just so terrifying to the point they could easily rivaled those battle veterans that I'd fought for months.

"Uwaahh... so creepy. As I expected from the perverted trio, though. Or..." one of the girls glanced toward me. "...should we call you perverted quartet now?"

... Whatever might happen from now on, I REFUSED to let that degrading nickname stuck to me.

"Look here, we're..."

Before I finished my sentence, like a slow motion, I saw Matsuda and Motohama ran away from their kneeling position to the other side of the dojo. Shit, they intended to leave me and Issei below the mercy of those _shinai_. But before they could run far...

_*THWAACKKK...*_

They were hit right in the face, and immediately fell flat on their back. From the other side, more girls appeared with kendo's attire and shinai in their hand. Seeing Matsuda and Motohama didn't move, Issei immediately ran to them and shook their body vigorously, but of course, without result

(Trivia: Being hit by _shinai_ hurts)

"GET THEM, GIRLS!" With that signal, all the girls pounced to us like a tiger to their prey, with their swords raised. At that moment, the only one thing I could think of was...

" _I hope Yui will never find out about this."_

* * *

XXXXXX (Third-Person POV) XXXXXX

* * *

"Muuu... Shinji-nii's late," Yui said as she sat alone at the dining table, with all the dinners ready. She was all alone in their house, grumbling to herself.

"I wonder if he's okay," Yui concerned voice reverberated in the quiet house. "I knew I should've help him back then. Ughh... stupid me!" She muttered to herself harshly.

_**"Yui..."** _

Out of nowhere, a heavy voice suddenly rang inside the whole room. Yui froze when she heard that voice which calling her name. Even worse, she was familiar with that voice, and got terrified immediately.

"NOOOOO..." she screamed at top of her lungs. She fell from her chair, her body trembled greatly as she covered her ears.

_**"Yui... it's me, Yui. Why're you afraid of me?"** _

"NOOO... LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" She started chucking things at the source of that voice, that being the window near the family room.

Finally, she grabbed the telephone book and threw that to the window. The window shattered immediately, leaving the room in silence once more. No voice could be heard except Yui's sobbing voice.

"Uu...uuhhh... _*sob* *sob*_ , save me... Shinji-nii, Ren-san..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... that's it for chapter 1.
> 
> I'm sorry if it's too long and rather boring, as there's still no action scene whatsoever. Don't worry, though. I assure you there will be a small fight scene in the next chapter, as our MC will have a mock battle against the one and only blonde prince of Kuoh.
> 
> Alright, I'm GEStorm signing off for now!


	3. I Make Some Friends (that are not suck)

Would anyone be surprised if I said my life took a spectacular nosedive after that peeping incident?

Maybe I should break it down a little bit.

After that particular event when I and the infamous 'perverted trio' got beaten down mercilessly by the kendo club, they literally left us half-dead behind the dojo. Luckily, Issei and I survived the onslaught and still strong enough to haul Matsuda and Motohama's unconscious body to the infirmary (that guy's tough, I'll give him that).

Unfortunately, the doctor had already left, so we stuck tending our own wounds. Fortunately, I was good at treating wounds (being in constant life and death situation kinda forces you to learn how to take care of yourself), so in a matter of minutes most of our wounds were already cleaned, disinfected, and wrapped in bandages.

Matsuda and Motohama woke up after I was done treating them. They made a ruckus as soon as they're awake, crying and whimpering because they had failed to see some boobs or ass for the day. Worse yet, Issei soon followed. He cried manly tears as they hugged each other and decided to drop by Motohama's house to watch some of his 'new collections' (seriously, how these guys can be this energetic after getting severely beaten down is beyond me).

They actually also invited me, but I refused, saying that I had to go home quickly for personal reasons. They understood, and we parted ways at the school gate as these 3 walked to Motohama's house.

Then I walked home and safely arrived at my house. I took a long, nice, warm bath and ate a warm, home cooked dinner made by Yui, as we shared our story about the first day of school, laughing and joking as we always did. After that, I managed to sleep peacefully and had a good dream about world peace.

You'd think after this very heavy and taxing day, I'd deserve to have at least that much moment of peace at my own home, right?

...

...

HAHAHAHAHAHA... ABSOLUTELY WRONG!

Apparently, I'd somehow managed to insult God on such personal level today. So much that after deciding to absolutely wrecking my day in school, He immediately thought _"THIS RASCAL NEEDS MOOREEEE!"_ and proceeded to ruin the rest of my day too.

Here, let me break it down for you.

On the way home, I kept trying to formulate a good and acceptable reason for Yui about these bandages all over my body. Maybe I could say I fell from the stairs (totally cliché, but sometimes work), or I could also say that my lost thing was taken by some bad guys, and I had to fight them to get it back (rejected, as it will make her even more worried), or... should I just say the truth?

...

...

Nah, stupid idea, Shinji. What the hell were you thinking?

There's no way I'd say I got this wound after being caught in the act of peeping. Heck, Yui would slap me back to yesterday if she knew I did that kind of thing, and then locked me outside the house to atone for my sin for the rest of my life.

But the main problem was, if I said what really happened there (that I was just being there to look for my lost item and accidentally got dragged into the that mess), Yui'd definitely ask about what my lost item really was. No, I couldn't let her know that I still brought my deck to school. She'd be mad, and oh boy, did I not want to be anywhere near her when she's mad. God, I still shivered a little whenever I recalled that event.

When we moved here, Yui had actually asked me to destroy my deck, or at least to throw it away. But as we couldn't be sure about what would happen in the future, I told her that I would keep it for safety if something bad happened. As expected, she didn't take my refusal well.

UNEXPECTEDLY, she went ballistic. When I wasn't looking, she grabbed my deck and a frigging hammer from the toolbox and tried to smash my deck to bits. Fortunately, I found out about it, and after a series of bickering, screaming, and a broken sink (don't ask), I managed to subdue her before she destroyed anything important.

Pro tip: One should never put a hammer anywhere near a rage-filled loli.

Note to self: Made sure there's no hammer anywhere near Yui when I explained myself to her.

Finally, I made a promise to NEVER, EVER associate myself with this thing anymore (something I utterly failed at), and **only** after I did that, Yui calmed herself down. Since that day, I'd been keeping that thing in the drawer near my bed in my room, somewhere Yui wouldn't carelessly check. I'd been trying my best to ignore it ever since; but as usual, (I don't make this stuff up, I swear) it popped up on my desk every morning, SOMEHOW.

Why oh why on some stupid sentiment, I chose to bring it with me on the first day of my school, instead of just shoving it back into the drawer like I always did? As the result for that stupid action, I was deemed a pervert, got my ass brutally kicked by a bunch of girls with death sticks (read: _shinai_ ), and now forced to think my way out of my sister's wrath.

...

...

Sometimes, I wonder whether stopping Yui from destroying my deck back then had been a wise choice.

I was still deep in my thought when I realized I was already in front of my house. I sighed, as I knew there's no running away from this. I unlocked the door with my key, and opened it slowly.

Yui wasn't there waiting for me, which I took as lucky and weird both at the same time. Usually, whenever I came home late, she always had stood in front of the door with her hands on her hips and pout on her face, ready to scold the hell out of me.

Suddenly, I heard something that immediately raised my internal alarm. I tried to listen very closely, and finally managed to identify 2 kinds of sounds.

The first one, which is clearer, was the sound of wind. It's like when you forgot to close the window on windy night (such as this), and as the result the wind just gushed into your room while producing some weird sucking sound.

The second one, which was subtle but seriously scaring me out, was the sound of someone sobbing.

… Yeah, just try imagining it for a second. You arrived home late, found your house dead quiet, and suddenly gust of wind rushed in and you heard mysterious sobbing voice came from inside.

That's legit horror flick's scene right there.

After standing frozen for several seconds, I gripped my trembled hands harder (yeah, I was trembling; don't judge) and proceeded to walk as quietly as possible to the source of the voice, that being the family room.

And I couldn't stress enough that what I saw there completely shocked me to the very core.

First thing I noticed was the window's shattered. That's why the wind could blow in so easily. Strange enough though, I didn't find anything laying around the window that possibly was used to break it. Even more strange, I didn't see any glass shard near the window. That's weird, because if somebody tried to break into the house by breaking it, the glass shards should've had gotten in too. Unless...

I tiptoed very carefully to the broken window, and peered outside. My guess was soon proved, as I saw the glass shards scattered on the other side of the window, along with the telephone book with some glass shards still stuck onto it.

That means, whoever broke the glass did it by throwing the telephone book from the INSIDE. And the only one that should've had been inside the house was...

I walked away from the window and started looking for Yui. I could see the dining table was already full of dinner, but one of the chair; the one that Yui usually sits on; fell down. I felt even more panicked. I walked closer to the dining table, and suddenly that sobbing voice was heard even more closer.

I turned, and found Yui curling up beside the phone cabinet while sobbing. Wave of ease and worry washed over me at the same time. I immediately ran toward her and grabbed her shoulder. Her eyes were puffy as she hugged her knees tightly.

I tried to call her name, and she then slowly raised her head to meet my face. I assured her everything will be okay, and picked her up bridal style then brought her to her room.

She hugged my neck tightly and didn't make any voice at all as we walked slowly. This silence was starting to get into my nerves, to be honest. I really wanted to ask what's going on, but I held myself back, as it could wait for later. The most important thing to do now was to calm her down. I could ask about whatever happened tomorrow. With that in mind, I opened her room's door and laid her on her bed.

After covering her with the blanket, I intended to go back to the family room to fix the broken window, or at least to cover it with something. But before I could turn away from her, she took my sleeve and gripped it tightly, preventing me from going out of the room.

I looked at her face. It was still so pale, and her eyes were still teary. I could even feel her hand that was gripping me trembled. There's no way I could leave her alone after seeing her condition like that. So, I sat beside her on the bed and told her everything's gonna be okay, all while caressing her hair gently. Her complexion gradually getting better and better, even if she still didn't speak even one word to me.

I ended up keeping her accompanied until she fell asleep, and just realized then that it was midnight. I pulled up her blanket, and left the room very quietly. I then went back to family room and covered the shattered window with some old newspapers, as I was too tired to fix it right then and there.

Fortunately, it didn't take long time. After that I cleaned up the dinner as I'd already lost my appetite, then went straight to bed after changing my clothes.

I couldn't sleep that well, though. My mind kept wandering back to Yui. It's maybe kinda obvious to anyone who know Yui's behavior at all, but Yui is NOT a crybaby. Heck, as much as it's pain to admit it, Yui's braver than I am in many ways (NEVER tell her I said this, her head doesn't need to get any bigger). I couldn't imagine anything that could make her freaked out like that.

In fact, the last time I saw her looked terrified to that extent was...

...

...

When... she saw her brother.

That realization hit me like a sixteen-wheeler truck to the face. I quickly get up from my bed, and instinctively checked every mirror and any reflective surface in my room. I found nothing wrong and fell to the bed, panting with my heart beating like crazy.

Di-did he find us?

I tried my very best to get rid of the worst conclusion that just popped up in my head. My hands shivered as my eyes couldn't stop observing my surrounding. The last thing I wanted was one of his 'monsters' caught me off guard, and that made me can't sleep.

Heck, could you even sleep when you assumed someone watching you in your own room?

...

... Thought so.

I stayed awake for a few more minutes before finally, my exhaustion got better of me. I yawned, then laid down on my bed, while trying to ignore the possibility of someone (/something) stalking me in my sleep. The last thought I had before fell unconscious was...

" _I hope tomorrow will be better"_

... And ultimately failed to notice that I just jinxed myself, BIG TIME.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"SHINJI-NII, WAKE UPPP!"

_*BRUAAKKK...*_

"GUORGHH... ARGHH..."

Once again, I reacted like that when my gut was introduced HARD WAY to the dictionary. I coughed several times while rubbing my maybe-bruised stomach, before turned to face whoever had attacked me in the first place.

My sister was there, standing beside my bed with both her hands on her hips and pout on her face. I stared in disbelief for a second there. Not because she'd had a nerve to hit me with a thick dictionary (she'd done that every now and then, after all), but because she'd behaved so naturally that I felt like yesterday night's incident had never happened in the first place. I was just about to ask how's her condition, but she cut me off with her usual machine gun styled-nagging.

"Mouuu... Nii~, stop lazying around and get up! Please look at the time now! We're almost late here! Muu... why're you especially hard to be woken up today?" She nagged as such like she'd always done whenever I woke up late. While I usually just chuckled whenever this happen, today I couldn't just make a joke around it.

"Sis, are you..."

Before I could even finish my sentence, she'd already turned her body away from me and walked to the door. Just before she went outside, she called me "We don't have any time to talk now, Nii! Quick, change your clothes now or we won't have any more time for breakfast!" and after that, she got out of the room and closed the door behind her.

I sat blankly on my bed for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted of what just happened. What the heck's happening, exactly? Was anything happen last night even real? If so, how could Yui be so... indifferent about it?

I realized there's no point thinking about it myself. I had to ask about this matter directly to Yui. She's the only one who could tell me what happened yesterday in detail.

With that new conviction in mind, I immediately changed my clothes, took my bag, and ran to the dining room.

Yui was sitting in her usual spot, on her usual chair. She was munching on her toast when she saw me coming and hurriedly signaled me with her free hand to sit and eat as well. I complied and sat across her, and immediately started eating.

We ate in silence for a few minutes, before I decided this awkwardness might kill both of us and had to go away.

"Soo... Yui, about last night, are you..."

"Fiuuhhh... I'm done! Thanks for the food!" Again, Yui interrupted me before I could finish. She hurriedly ran off to the kitchen and started washing her dish while humming something cheerfully. If any other people looked at her behaving this way, I bet they'd immediately consider she's okay and she'd already forgotten about the last night incident. But of course, I knew better.

She was dodging the question.

It's always like this. Whenever she went through something particularly bad, Yui would always seem to forget about it overnight. She would blatantly act like it didn't happen at all, or rather, she would try her best to forget it, no matter how terrible it was. Usually I was okay with that, as I always supported her whenever she wanted to move on and left unpleasant experiences behind.

But for this case, I had a weird feeling that just forgetting it wouldn't help much, especially if my speculation about it's something to do with her brother last night was correct.

Anyway, I let her off until I finished my breakfast and we left home together. On the way, she started to do her usual antics. Hopping around and humming cheerfully, but something about her behavior seemed so... off today. It's like she was forcing herself to act like her usual self, and that's totally unpleasant to look at.

Worse still, she totally didn't let me to pry about what happened last night. Whenever I started a conversation that lead to that matter, she would cut me off immediately with whatever topic she could spew at the moment notice.

Our conversation became one-sided storytelling, with her continuously talking about whatever things I couldn't care about (and I had a feeling she didn't really care about that, either), and me still trying to strike a proper conversation, preferably about last night's matter.

Finally, I lost my patience after a while. I stopped in my track, gripped her wrist rather forcefully, and forced her to turn to face me. She genuinely startled and even let out a yelp, but I honestly couldn't really care about that right now. I really had to know about what happened yesterday. I started talking before she could even react to me.

"Alright, sis. I think the _cat-and-mouse_ game is enough for now. I believe we have another, **more important** , matter to discuss, right?" I said with a dead serious tone, emphasizing on the word 'more important'. Yui immediately averted her eyes from mine, her hand started to sweat.

Her expression clearly stated that she didn't want to talk about this. She bit her lips in frustration, and after a blink of an eye her expression was magically back to her usual cheerful and happy go lucky (though feel really forced) wide smile.

"Wh... wh-what are you talking about, Shinji-nii? Ahh... umm... what important matter are you talking about? Oo... oohhh... I know! Is it about when I told you abo..."

Her stuttering stopped abruptly when I pulled her into a hug. I seriously hated to make my sister feeling unpleasant like this, even more when I had to make her cry. But I convinced myself that this was necessary, and I couldn't pretend I didn't notice Yui's weird, forced behavior any longer.

A second passed, then two, then three. None of us said or did anything. I just stood there embracing Yui who was still silent all along, with her face on my chest.

"Look, sis..." I muttered gently to her while caressing her hair, "I promised you back then that I would protect you, and I assure you I still hold that promise until now. But to do that I need to know what exactly had happened. So I need you to help me out here, Yui."

Right after I was done with my little speech, Yui started sobbing in my embrace, with her face buried even deeper inside my chest. I just kept silent while caressing her hair gently. After a while, she started to calm down, and the sobbing stopped. Then I knelt down and wiped her face from tears.

Her eyes were still red from crying, and seeing her like that made me glad we're not near the school yet. If I was found embracing a crying little girl in the middle of the street by any of the student from my school, who knows what another misunderstanding might be created. And honestly, I didn't need another huge misunderstanding to further degrade my _already-at-the-worst-level_ reputation, thank you very much.

So, to avoid further inconvenience, I brought Yui to the nearby park. We sat on one of the bench, sipping a canned soda I bought from the nearest vending machine. The atmosphere here was very nice, suitable for a nice, long chat. I figured this park must be popular for a date spot or something like that, but probably because it's still morning, there were not too many people in here.

"Are you sure we should do this, Nii? I mean, what if we become late to school?" Yui asked me with slightly worried tone. Sure, it would be bad to be late to school, but today my priorities had slightly changed from the usual course.

"We have something more important than school now, sis. 'Sides, it won't take long, I promise," I assured her with the most confident smile I could muster. Then I immediately started to address the main problem.

"Soo... Yui, what happened last night?" I asked straight to the point with serious tone. I could feel her shoulder tensed up a bit with my question. She bit her lip and cast her gaze downward, looking very troubled. Seeing that, I immediately hugged her shoulder to make her relax a bit, and assured her everything will be okay. After a while, she finally started the explanation.

She told me when she was waiting for me to come home last night, a creepy voice suddenly called her name. She also explained that the voice came from behind the window. She immediately freaked out and threw a telephone book to the source of the voice, instantly shattering the window in the process. After that, she was too scared to move or to do anything else, so she cowered beside the cabinet until I came.

Her story was very easy to understand. If her explanation was true, that maybe it was just a thief who coincidentally caught her name from somewhere and tried to use it to get into the house by pretending as one of the residence, or at worst, a creepy stalker who was stalking my sister in my absence.

But there's one thing I didn't understand. Sure, being called by an unknown creepy voice outside the window in the night could be very scary, but as I had stated before, my sister wasn't a coward. I could assure you she wouldn't be that scared over something like that. Heck, I could even imagine her going out from the window with a broomstick in hand to beat the living hell out of whoever brave enough to trespass our house (this had happened before). So I think this explanation was still missing something important.

"Yui, this voice..." I asked very slowly, "...do you recognize it?"

I didn't even have to wait for her answer to make a conclusion. As soon as I asked, her face suddenly went white. Her shoulder started trembling, and she hugged her own body while shivering uncontrollably.

Yep, my guess last night was head-shot.

"It's really him, huh..." I muttered with slightly angry tone. _"I should've known, but I can't believe he found us this fast."_ I clenched my fist in anger, my feeling was a mess. Fortunately, somebody held my hand, which effectively woke me up.

Yui looked up to me, looking for encouragement. My distracted mind was suddenly refocusing itself. _"Right, I can't look weak in front of Yui! I must be strong,"_ I thought that to myself as I smiled and rubbed her hair energetically. "Don't worry, sis! We'll be fine! I won't let him get anywhere near you! After all, I promised to protect you, right? So you just need to believe in me, okay?" I said as cheerfully as I could, hoping to cheer her up too.

Amazingly, my attempt succeeded. Her smile gradually coming back onto her face, and she nodded her head in approval, "Yes, I believe in you, Shinji-nii! Ehehe... thanks for cheering me up there," she said that as her smile beaming at me.

Wow, even until now I'm still amazed at how fast Yui could pick herself back up after a fall. She is really amazing after all.

Yui then stood up and pulled me up too. "Come on, we have to be quick, Nii! School's gonna start soon. If we don't start sprinting now, we'll be late!" She urged me, and I could just comply. Ahh... even if it's a little tiring to deal with her hyperactive demeanor every day like this, it's still hundred times better than seeing her depressed and gloomy expression, I guess.

In the end, we raced to the school. But to be honest, I was still thinking about the problem along the way. If Yui's brother really had found us, then I don't think we can avoid him forever. Sooner or later, I maybe would get dragged back into 'that war', and this time maybe there'd be no turning back.

I shook that troubling thought out of my head. Right now, the only thing I wanted to think about is Yui's happiness. I wanted to believe that this peaceful morning and our peaceful life could last forever.

 _"Even if..."_ I reached into my pocket and tapped what's inside _"...even if I have to end up using it again"_. With that conviction in mind, I ran with Yui toward the school gate.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

...

...

... "Umm... can somebody please explain to me why I'm here again?"

I asked in utter confusion to the people hectically walking back and forth around me. Unfortunately, everybody here seemed to be so busy with their own duty. Forget answering, none of them even had any time to look at me. That left me here, standing speechless in the middle of the room, still trying to comprehend what got me in this situation in the first place.

Oh, and if you're wondering, I was in the student council room. Again.

But not because I was late, mind you. Yui and I arrived on time, just before the bell rang. Then in the middle of the homeroom, I was suddenly summoned to the student council room through the speaker, which made me confused, but somehow made the entire class looked at me like I just won an Oscar.

Issei and his two friends even looked at me with an envious glare and called me 'lucky bastard', which left me even more puzzled. Since when being called by the student council made you 'lucky'?

I finally left the room and power-walked to the said place. This would be my third time visiting this room, then. Hell, I didn't know whether to be proud or to be ashamed of that fact. My last thought before finally knocked on the door was _"I hope I'm not in trouble."_

... Which made me realize how much I underestimated my own bad luck.

So, to sum what happened next... well, there's pretty much nothing. Every member of the student council (which was greatly dominated by female, by the way) was looked very busy doing whatever assignment was given to them.

Even the only member I knew, Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou, was busy signing and sorting a huge stack of papers. They were just too busy it's like they didn't notice I was in the room, and I couldn't just let myself to interrupt them because of it.

I just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, with no one to talk to or to explain what's going on. Finally, after a while, their job was done. They gathered in front of Sona-kaichou's desk, and after a short briefing, they were dispersed and left the room quietly, leaving me, Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou in the room.

"Sorry for the delay, Kido-san," Kaichou finally addressed me. Her expression and tone were all business-like as usual.

"It's cool, kaichou. I could see you're all busy. Please don't apologize," I responded while waving my hand casually. "If it's okay with you though, can I know why you called me here first thing in the morning?"

"Yeah, about that..." Sona-kaichou adjusted her glasses and said, "...first of all, have you found your missing item yet, Kido-san?"

My mind genuinely raced the moment she said that. Gosh, how could I forget that yesterday I asked her to tell me if she happened to find my missing deck. Now that I got it back already, I should've had told her earlier. Gahhh... I'm so dumb.

"Oh yeah, sorry I didn't tell you earlier, kaichou! I actually had found it yesterday. I'm sorry to make you worry about something like this!" This time, I bowed my head to her. She then told me to raise it, while saying "Is that so? I'm glad" with genuine relaxed expression on her face.

"Soo... is this the only reason you called me here? I don't think that's the case, though," I asked her that while tilting my head slightly. Yeah, I don't believe she would bother herself to call me here the first thing in the morning just to ask something trivial like this. There must be another main reason here.

"Yes, you are right," and suddenly after she said that, the mood in the room changed one eighty degrees. It suddenly felt like the room's temperature was dropped to below zero point. Kaichou expression changed from relaxed to super pissed, and this time she glared at me like a lion eyeing its prey. I felt like if I made one wrong move, she would jump on me and tear my face to pieces.

"I called you here this morning to discuss about the report I received from the female kendo club regarding your... questionably illegal action yesterday evening"

...

...

... Oh, shit! God frigging dammit! How could I forget about that?!

I sweated profusely, and I could feel my hand shivered. Kaichou's voice sounded so cold I thought I will freeze to death on the spot. But fortunately, I was kinda used to people interrogating me with killing intent. So, instead of cowering in fear like many other people maybe did, I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves, then managed to speak one full sentence without stuttering at all.

"Kaichou, if I say it's just misunderstanding on your part, would you believe me?" I said that full of confidence. Maybe because I was sure I didn't do anything wrong back then, I could voice my defense easier.

Sona-kaichou, and even Tsubaki-fuku kaichou looked a little surprised at my remarks there. From their slightly amazed expression, I guess there were not many people who could retort her angry statement the way I just did. But of course, Sona-kaichou regained her composure fast, and soon her cold expression was back. "Do you have any proof to back your statement there, Kido-san?" She asked me again, and this time, I already know how to answer her.

I pulled my deck from pocket and showed it to her. "I was looking for this," I answered concisely. "Yesterday, when Yui and I was on our academy tour, I wanted to take a closer look at the dojo, so I asked fuku-kaichou to went on ahead to the teacher's room while I went exploring the area around the dojo," I explained. "Then, I guess in the middle of my exploring, this was dropped near the bushes behind the dojo. I only came there to took it back."

Kaichou's eyes were narrowed even deeper. "Then, can you explain what business did you have behind the dojo earlier that day, so you could possibly think that your item was dropped there?"

Hearing this, I plastered the brightest smile I could ever muster on my face, like one that Yui showed me every day, and said "There's a cat."

As expected, Sona-kaichou and fuku-kaichou looked completely dumbfounded. Heck, their eyes and mouth hung wide open. Sheesh... I wished I had my camera ready.

"A... a cat?" They both asked at the same time, still looked confused of my statement.

"Yep, a cat." I answered, still with my 100-megawatt smile. "Back then, when I was walking around the dojo, I heard a cat purring under the bushes. So, I didn't waste any time and immediately went to play with it. And boy, did I not regret it! It was so cuteee~! You see, there was one time when..." and so I continue to talk super enthusiastically about how cute the (imaginary) cat was while making many kinds of gesture with my hand. I was about to tell them how I (imagining) played with her fluffy tail, before kaichou cut me off.

"EHEEMMM... Kido-san, I think we've heard enough, thank you," Sona-kaichou coughed very loudly to stop me from further ranting like a maniac. To this, I only responded with "ohh... sorry" and then shut my mouth for good.

After shutting me up, Kaichou still looked very overwhelmed with many emotions, mainly trying to determine whether my act just now was just a fake or I was seriously a cat-crazed lunatic. Finally, after a while, she asked me again, "do you have any witness to approve of this... this peculiar action of yours?"

"No, I think I don't. After all, I did that all behind the bushes." I answered jokingly with a little laugh. "I only stated what I did back then. No more no less."

Now, you must be wondering why I acted and answered like that. Well, the truth is, I kinda knew a type of people like kaichou. Whenever she had to make a judgement about people based on something she wasn't really sure, she would most of the time use intimidation. After all, there's saying that people show their true color under stress. That's why she used that piercing glare and absolute-zero demeanor of hers to intimidate me, with hope that I finally would make a mistake and spill out the answer she wanted.

But actually, the way to counter this type of people is pretty simple. You just have to be really good at showing poker face. Why? Well, because people like kaichou rely on intimidation and pressure to force the truth out of their victim, as long as you're not intimidated enough to accidentally do or say something stupid, you're safe.

I did that act to make sure kaichou knew that I wasn't intimidated by her. By joking, telling funny story, and laughing in the middle of the interrogation, I pretty much already convinced her that she couldn't get me to talk using this way.

Moreover, her type wasn't really a risk taker. They had to be 100% sure about their answer before making a judgement, and thus if their way of interrogation failed, they would definitely hold back their judgement. They wouldn't easily forgive you or write you off their list, of course. But at least it would give you some time to think about the next plan.

Plus, I kinda had an upper hand here. Kaichou knew I lost something yesterday, and Tsubaki fuku-kaichou saw me going to the dojo at the tour. So basically, these 2 people knew my explanation was at least, half accurate.

And just as I thought, kaichou looked like she had a hard time evaluating me. Her eyes narrowed, and she'd been silent for too long, proving that she wasn't really sure what to do about me. But finally, she sighed and asked, "... would it be okay with you if we do a little more investigation about this matter, Kido-san?"

Hah, called it!

"It's okay. Just know that I won't take back what I've stated no matter what," I successfully held back my smirk and bowed to both of them, "now if you'll excuse me, I will go back to my classroom now," and turned to the door. I just reached the handle bar when kaichou suddenly raised her voice to call me.

Wow, Déjà vu is real.

"May I ask you about your opinion regarding 3 students here?" Kaichou brought out 3 student's data and showed it to me. It was, of course, the data of Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama, the exact people who got involved with that incident with me. (Or, should I say the exact people who got me involved in that incident?)

 _"Heh, of course it would come to this."_ I thought.

I considered my answer for a few seconds. Now in situation like this, I only got 2 options to choose, and each one would inevitably make me choose a side; either to win back Kaichou's trust, or to keep the trio's trust.

If I told Kaichou they're just my classmate and I just coincidentally bumped into them when they were about to do their 'questionable deed' when I was looking for my deck, I could easily shift all the blame to them and clean up my name in front of these two, even if I risked being hated by the trio themselves.

But if I tried play a hero and said that they're my friend and I asked them to help me look for my deck, there's big chance I'm gonna get busted along with them, because those three's reputation as 'peeping perverts' certainly had been famous throughout the school, and I somehow knew these 3 perverts (/friends) wasn't really a good liar. So if the student council decided to interrogate them too, we're toast.

" _Hmm... what to do now?"_ I had to make a quick decision here, because kaichou certainly didn't need too much time before she deemed me suspicious. Finally, after quick consideration, I picked my answer.

"They're my friends. I had them helping me look for my item yesterday..." I answered with the most guilt-filled voice I could muster. "...they got involved in this misunderstanding because of me. That's why kaichou, I beg you, please don't drag them even deeper into this. I will take the punishment for 3 of us if it's necessary," I bowed my head deeply when I said that.

I waited for kaichou to say something. Finally, after a moment of silence, she said "please raise your head, Kido-san. We will not punish any of you before this matter is thoroughly investigated. For now, you may go back to your class. I'm sorry to take so much of your time."

With her permission, I then got out of the room quietly. The only thing that I could think as I walked out of the room was, _"well, I hope I'm not busted."_

* * *

XXXXXXX (In the student council room) XXXXXXX

* * *

As Kido Shinji walked out of the room, Shitori Sona kept observing him until he finally closed the door behind him shut.

"What do you think, Tsubaki?" Sona didn't waste any time and immediately asked her trusted vice president, Shinra Tsubaki.

"Well... for one, he is a good actor, that's for sure," Tsubaki answered her president with her own opinion.

"Yes, and he knows exactly how to fend off intimidation. It was like... he's ever done it before, and not just for one time," Sona voiced her own opinion about that peculiar boy.

When she saw him in front of the school gate, fooling around with his sister, Sona didn't has any doubt that this boy would be the same as any other dull, shallow-minded boys in this school. But after having some interaction with him, Sona could easily tell that Kido Shinji is more than meet the eyes.

For one, the way he brought himself in front of people is really natural, but at the same time can be really well calculated. Take the time when he reported to the student council room for his missing item, for instance.

Usually, when someone lost his prized possession, their first reaction usually would be losing their mind and started to run around the school checking every corner they could check and asking every people they could ask.

But when Kido Shinji came, even though he looked slightly panicked, it's very clear that he was still in control of his own mind. Even though it's also very clear he really treasured whatever item that had gone missing, he didn't try to search the room because he knew it would be rude, and instead he asked Sona politely to help him find it. And the fact that he already knew where to look for his item as soon as he got out of the room proved that he's also capable of thinking in a long-term scale.

And just now, this man once again managed to impress Sona by not even flinching at her open attempt to intimidate him. It's not that she's really proud about it, but she was usually success at intimidating.

Due to her 'family circumstances', she had seen many discussions and debates in her life, and even had practiced doing that in a very young age. Moreover, she was also aware of her image as a strict and sometimes scary student council president, and always tried to use that image to her best benefits.

The secret of every successful interrogation is how you get a hold of the other party's way of thinking and steer them to meet your expectation, and how you control the course of the conversation. And for that, intimidation usually is the best way to do just that.

But this guy... it seemed like he was immune to whatever attempt she used to frighten him. No... it was like, he knew exactly well how to handle an interrogation. He even found an opportunity to make a joke and laugh, which had seriously offset the mood Sona had created for perfect interrogation scenario.

Finally, at the end, when Sona asked about his partners-in-crime in order to test how he would react, he once again broke her expectation in quite the unusual way.

At a glance, he only got 2 options. Either shifting the blame to the trio and walk away safely or risking himself to safe them all. No matter what he chose, he would lose the respect of either the trio or the student council. But this guy immediately found the middle way.

He chose to risk himself for them, but he said that in a way that would make the student council and the trio themselves feel sympathetic for him. By saying he would take the blame for them, he had actually tried to make the student council saw him in the better light and kept the respect and friendship with the trio.

This guy had successfully turned two win-loss options into one win-win solution, and he did it in just a split second. What a formidable man.

"What's our next plan now, kaichou?" Sona's thought was interrupted by Tsubaki. As she said that, Tsubaki poured the tea to Sona's cup. "Are you still thinking of... 'recruiting' him?"

"We'll first wait for our members' opinion," Sona stated calmly as she sipped the tea. "But, considering what we had seen today..." suddenly, Sona was holding a bright red chess piece in her right hand and observing it carefully, "I have to admit he can be a good candidate."

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Fiuhh... I'm glad that's over," I wiped sweat off my forehead as I walked to my classroom. On the way, I could only pray that kaichou didn't catch me lying. Or even if she did, I hoped my last act back then would make her reconsider her option to punish me or the trio.

"Hey, you're done already?"

Suddenly, I heard a voice said that directly from behind me. Instinctively, I turned and found a girl smiling in front of me.

The said girl is a beautiful girl with reddish-brown hair tied into twin tail. She also had warm brown eyes that somehow reminding me of Yui. Being stared by cute girl like her honestly kinda embarrassing, so I averted my eyes quickly. I only could hope I wasn't blushing too much.

"Yeee…ah. I guess I am," I answered while trying my best to remember her face. Weirdly, I had this feeling that I had seen her before, but I couldn't remember when, where, or how. I finally gave up and just asked, "umm… do I know you?"

She giggled at my confused face. "No, I don't think you do. But I do know you, though. After all, you're famous around here."

"Umm… famous? For what exactly?" I curiously asked even if I already had a hunch about the answer, and that answer was not good. The girl then confirmed my fear by saying, "you're the newest member of that infamous perverted trio, right? Oh, or should I say perverted quartet now?"

...

...

...

Even if I'm a man of patience and tolerance, I still couldn't stress enough how much I HATED that damnable nickname.

" **I'M NOT!** Don't call me by that name, please," I half-shouted, maybe a little too loud. Fortunately, as homeroom was on going right now, there's nobody in the corridor beside us now.

"Hahaha… sorry~ sorry~ Didn't know you would be so angry over that." What got me even more irritated was this girl didn't even react at my outburst. "But seriously though, I think that nickname has already stuck to you, no matter if you like it or not. I mean, I'm pretty sure every girl in my class was talking about that," she stated so bluntly as if that was obvious.

… Oh God, why did this happen to me?

How the hell could that rumor spread so fast anyway? I just transferred here yesterday, for swivel sake! Now I had to endure being called a pervert for the rest of my school life?! And what if Yui knew about this?! ARGGHHH…

"Umm… you okay? You look kinda pale," the reddish-haired girl asked me with worried tone. I just realized then that I was staring blankly at the floor, probably looking like a zombie that just about to commit suicide. "Want me to take you to the infirmary?"

I responded with weak tone. "Nah, I'm… good, thanks," and just about to turned back and continued walking, when suddenly I realized something important.

"You… why do you still talk to me normally?" She responded me with confused look, like I just said something weird. "You said I was infamous as a pervert. Why did you still approach me?" She touched her chin with her finger, pondering about the question.

After a while, she spoke her answer, "I honestly didn't really think about that, ehehe…" she giggled again and smiled at me, "but kaichou told us that you didn't seem like a bad guy, and considering kaichou is always right, I guess it's safe to say I believe in you too."

"… Wait, did you just say 'kaichou told you'?" and suddenly, the memory hit me right in the face. Yeah, I had met this girl before, we just didn't talk at all. Hell, I even doubted they notice I was in the same room with them. "You're… one of the student council member?" I asked in disbelief.

The girl then smiled apologetically. "Yeah… sorry about the whole 'not noticing you' act back then. Kaichou's order. She said she wanted to 'create the right mood' or something like that."

Believe it or not, her words actually made sense.

Making your target feels alone and demeaned like 'there's nobody would come to save you' before questioning them is actually one effective way to make sure they talk. If kaichou knew this and deliberately ordered her members to ignore me on purpose, I guess I had to praise her even more.

"Oh yeah, my name's Meguri Tomoe, by the way," she introduced herself. "I'm second year student and secretary of the student council. Nice to meet you!" She said cheerfully while smiling so brightly. _"Huh, her smile's cute, kinda reminding me of Yui."_

"I'm Kido Shinji, second year. Nice to meet you too, Meguri-san," I smiled back. Wow, did this mean she's gonna be my first (normal) friend in this school?

... Nah, I better didn't get my hopes too high. After all, just because she could talk to me normally didn't mean she actually wanted to be my friend. "If I may ask, what are you doing here, Meguri-san? Didn't you already get back to your class? What about homeroom?" I asked.

"Ohh~ about that..." she scratched the back of her head nervously. "I forgot something in student council room, so I want to get it back. Ehehe..." She laughed a little.

Then, for some reason, she leaned closer to me and tilted her head. "... You know, you seem okay."

"... Huh?" I stunned at her word, probably blushing as well. "Wh-what do you mean?" Confused, I asked her and took one step back nervously.

Seeing my reaction, she giggled again and corrected her posture. "Oh, sorry. It's just... I've never seen someone came out of the student council room looking so... indifferent, after talking with kaichou."

That statement got my attention. "What do you mean by that?"

She just shrugged at the question. "Well... maybe you didn't know because you are a new student here, but kaichou and fuku-kaichou is actually two of the most popular girls in the entire school. Many boys, and even girls adore... no, worship them because of their beauty and teachers like them because of their intelligence."

I just nodded, but apparently Meguri-san wasn't done. "Moreover, kaichou rarely ever call someone directly to the student council room, usually prefer to inform the teacher first to have them deal with the problem, or told one of us to deal with them instead. So, rumor arises that being called by student council actually considered one of the biggest privilege in this school."

" _Oh, that explains why my classmates looked at me like I just won a lottery this morning,"_ I thought. Well... I indeed couldn't deny that Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou were very beautiful. It's not surprising for them to have many fans, I guess.

"But you didn't look happy or anything when I and the other members saw you this morning. And you even didn't look sad or unsatisfied when you left the room. You looked glad, even." She ended her explanation like that, before adding, "... you're unique, you know, Kido-kun."

"Wow, okay, two things need correcting here," I coughed loudly in desperate attempt to hide my blush. "First, as you've already said, I Just transferred here yesterday. There's no way I could know about the 'most popular girls' or 'best privilege' thing. Second, I still don't think you can be looking forward to visiting a place where you know the authorities are waiting and ready to pass the judgement for your fate."

Meguri-san put her fingers on her chin again, "hmm... I think you're right. But still, it's the fact that many students here will do anything to experience what just happened to you, you know," she said.

"Well... I know I won't," I sighed. "I think I will go back to my classroom now, Meguri-san, thanks for the talk," I said and turned my body to walk away. After several steps, suddenly Meguri-san called from behind me.

"Heyyy Kido-kun! I had a feeling we will be working together sooner or later. Let's get along from now on, okay!" I heard her voice rang throughout the corridor. I just turned my body and about to ask what the heck did she mean, when I found she had already gone from my sight.

... Damn, she's fast!

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"""CURSE YOU, YOU LUCKY BASTARD!"""

I ducked quickly to dodged three fists that was swung directly onto my face. Then I instinctively jumped backward and stood up to face my assailants.

They were the 'perverted trio' (I know; the LAMEST name ever), my self-proclaimed 'brothers' who had been trying their best to harass me these past few hours.

I mean, ever since I came back from my trip to student council room, every student in the class had glanced at me curiously every once in a while. But these three were openly glaring at me with eyes full of hostility, like I just did something so bad and thus needed to be lynched for it.

Even worse, they'd also tried to physically annoy me. Poking my back and throwing random things at me continuously like a trio of second graders for the rest of the lesson time. I knew retaliating wouldn't do me any good, so I forced myself to bear with it.

Finally, when break time began, these three idiots immediately stood up and walked to me with absolute malice plastered on their faces. I was just about to explain what happened, when suddenly they swung their fists to me at the same time. Fortunately, I've seen many better punches. There's no way those lousy punches could hit me.

"Hey! The hell, guys? What's your problem?" I shouted to them with annoyed expression.

"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY US? You... you... uuhhh... _*hic*hic*_ " Issei shouted back at me, but suddenly his eyes started to get teary and as such he's unable to finish his sentence.

"How can you leave us alone to hog all those babes and boobs for yourself, Shinji! Aren't we brothers that already took a vow to always be together forever?!" Matsuda said, full of emotion.

"Yo-you... did you meet Shitori Sona-kaichou and Shinra Tsubaki-fuku kaichou? Ho... ho-how was them? Aren't they beautiful and sexy? Nee... did you get scolded by them? O-or punished? How was it feel? D-did it feel good? Did they go all sadist on you and force you to become their pet? ARGHH... I'M JEALOUS, DAMMITTT!" Motohama shouted desperately after he'd done with his imagination.

"Hey, chill guys! Please, for swivel sake, calm down!" I tried to calm them down, because I didn't need more eyes glaring at me more than there already were. Seriously, all the classmates could hear us, and they didn't look happy at all. "I didn't get called to student council room to be praised or anything like that, you know?"

And so, I told them the true reason why I was called by Sona-kaichou (with much smaller voice, of course), that we were already in the student council's bad list, and I had to lie to them to make sure we didn't get punished. Obviously, I asked them to lay low for a while because if we made another ruckus, we will definitely get in trouble with the student council.

UNEXPECTEDLY though, their reaction crushed my expectation greatly.

"""WHAT?! So you mean if we did that one more time, we'll get to meet Sona-kaichou and the rest of beauties in the student council? Awesome!"""

...

...

... Yep, my plan officially backfired, BIG TIME.

I smacked my forehead in disbelief. _"How could this happen to me?"_ I was seriously contemplating my life's choices until my phone rang inside my pocket.

_Hii~ Shinji-nii!_

_Let's eat lunch together! I'm waiting at the rooftop. I already brought your share, so you can just quickly come here! Don't be late :)_

As such was Yui's message to me. I checked the time and it was already 15 minutes through break time. I didn't want to miss my lunch, so I quickly dashed off the classroom when the trio were busy making a horrendous plan that possibly would get them into student council room (or expelled, depending on how you see it)

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

Yui was already on the rooftop when I arrived. She sat on the floor with a plastic bag full of breads, and was waving frantically at me. But the first thing that actually got my attention today was the fact that she wasn't alone.

Beside her sat a small girl with shoulder-length snow white hair and two long bangs going past her shoulder. She was munching something that looked like sweets, and she did have a lot of those in her plastic bag.

"Hi, Shinji-nii! Wow, you aren't late today. Good job~" she stood up and gave me two thumbs up. I smiled and ruffled her hair a bit, "what do you mean by that huh, you cheeky brat?" and said that jokingly. In the midst of our jokes, I peered to the other girl, and apparently Yui got my signal.

"Oh yeah, I want to introduce you to someone, Shinji-nii!" She then pulled the white-haired girl up. "She is Toujou Koneko-chan! My classmate and new best friend! Nee~ nee~ Isn't she cute? She looks like a cat, right! Kyaaa~ I wanna hug her!" Yui hyper-enthusiastically introduced me to her new friend while constantly hopping and hugging her like she's a doll.

"Hey, hey! Chill, sis! You're troubling her," I quickly grabbed Yui's collar and calm her down, as I was afraid she might scare off her new friend if she kept acting like a hyperactive kid on steroid. "Sorry about that, umm... Toujou, isn't it? Are you okay?" I asked her while trying to subdue my sister.

"Yes," she nodded and answered very concisely. "My name is Toujou Koneko. I'm first year. Nice to meet you, senpai," she answered politely bowed her head. I responded her the same way, "I'm Kido Shinji, second year. Thanks for wanting to be my sister's friend. I hope she won't cause you any trouble."

Now I got to look at her face clearly, I could say she really is cute. She had dazzling hazelnut eyes and wore cat-shaped hairpin on both sides of her hair. Her expression was mostly poker-faced, but that didn't reduce her cuteness very much because of her petite stature.

And Wow, now I got to look at it more closely, I just realized she was very small! Heck, she was a few inches even shorter than my sister, and that was saying something, mind you!

But in behavior, I could see that these two were exactly polar opposites. While Yui is cheerful and always smiling, Toujou's expression was mostly set on poker face. Also, Toujou was very quiet and a little cold, greatly different from my sister who was loud and bubbly by nature.

After introducing ourselves to each other, we sat together, and I ate the bread that Yui had gotten for me. She got me yakisoba bread and fried bread, so I thanked her and enjoyed my lunch.

We chatted a bit, and as expected, Yui was the one doing most of the talking. She told me how she and Toujou became friend, even though from her story I could sum up that she practically 'proclaimed' Toujou as best friend just because she's cute. Oh, and she also got along well with her other classmates, who apparently overjoyed because they got another 'unofficial mascot' in their class, aside from Toujou (that's my sister for you)

She also asked how's my day; I told her it was great (if you can say being called to the student council room and getting told that they got their eyes on you as 'great') She also asked whether I already made a friend; I told her I haven't, but I would keep looking (I ironically have, but I'm NOT letting them meet her)

Seeing her already being energetic and cheerful like normal made me seriously glad. I honestly a bit afraid if she would be wary of other people because of yesterday's incident. I guess my pep talk with her this morning really worked, after all. That, and the fact that Yui was indeed a tough girl.

Toujou was pretty much quiet during our conversation, just continuously munching whatever snacks in her plastic bags. I didn't know whether it's because she was naturally a quiet girl, or because she was bored here. Well... despite her extroverted demeanor and open-mindedness, Yui actually isn't the best person at reading the mood. I was afraid she just took Toujou here despite she was unwilling to.

"Uwaahhh..." My thought was cut off by Yui, who shouted beside my ears. "I forgot to buy the drinks!" She then stood up and addressed us, "Shinji-nii, Koneko-chan, I'm gonna go downstairs to buy some drinks! Wait for me here, okay!" Then she took off faster than I could offer to buy those drinks myself.

...

...

...

Yep, leaving me alone with a girl I barely know is definitely one solid proof that Yui isn't good at reading the mood.

I awkwardly ate in silence for several minutes. When I glanced at Toujou, she seemed like she wasn't care, though. She just kept eating and eating non-stop. Hell, I wondered if I was the only one who cared about the awkwardness around here.

"... I'm sorry if this is inconvenience for you, Toujou," I finally said that after considering what should I say for a while. "You see... Yui isn't really good at reading the mood, so she often doesn't realize whether she has troubled other people around her. If you were dragged here against your will, then I can only say I'm sorry," I said apologetically.

Toujou stopped her munching and peered at me, "... I didn't get dragged here against my will or anything," she said with her usual flat tone. She then added, "...Yui is a pushy...and sometimes annoying girl, but I don't hate being with her."

I let out a relaxed sigh after hearing that. "Is that so? I'm so glad," then I immediately added, "umm... if it's okay with you, please continue being her friend from now on, okay?" I let out that small, hopeful wish. Toujou pondered for a second, before silently nodding her head. I smiled inside my heart, then we both continue eating our food in silence.

Surprisingly, Toujou started a conversation a moment after. "... you're not like what I heard, senpai," she said that very quietly, just for me to hear. When I heard that, all the blood inside my body instantly froze over. I turned my face to her, and tried to confirm what I'd just heard.

"Wh...wh...wh-wha-what are you t...t-t-talking about, Toujou?" I stuttered so badly as I asked her. She then confirmed my fear with her flat tone, "I heard you are the new pervert in the school."

...

... _*crack*_

_..._

Something in my chest went _crack_ when I heard her word. Probably my heart.

I didn't really know what to say anymore. I was rendered utterly speechless when I realized the rumor had already spread even among the first years. The only thing preventing me from crying in despair right then and there was the fact that I had to know one more thing.

"D-d-did Yui know about this?" I asked Toujou. She thought for a while, then shook her head slowly. "I didn't know for sure. But I'm quite sure the rumor has already going strong in our class."

...

...

... And just like that, my pride as a big brother crumbled like dust in the wind.

If it's like that, Yui must've already known about it. But, why would she talk to me normally like back then if that's the case? Was she just pitying me? Or was it possible that she hadn't heard about it yet? Or maybe she had, but refused to believe it was me? And if someone know Yui is my sister, what would happen to her reputation in this school? She already had many friends, and I definitely wouldn't want to make her be shunned just because her brother was known to be a pervert.

I was seriously racking my brain, searching for a good way out until Toujou spoke up, "... maybe you'll get something if you just talk to her, senpai," she gave that piece of advice, still with indifferent tone, and immediately back to munching her sweets. Seriously, this girl sure can eat, can't she?

I didn't have any time to responded to her advice, because Yui suddenly popped up from behind the door with a bag of juices. Then we continue our lunch together until break time was over. Of course, still with Yui dominating the conversation, Toujou being so quiet, and me being confused and unsure of what to do about the rumor.

" _Haa... I guess I'll just try to tell Yui the truth later. I hope she'll believe me."_ With that thought in mind, I walked back to my class as our break time was over.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

Fast forward to after school, Yui and I had agreed to meet in front of the school gate and went home together. Fortunately, I was able to avoid Issei and co. who had asked me to hang out with them after school without much difficulty. So now I was walking side by side with Yui to our home.

On our way, Yui told me about the rest of her days passionately. I just chuckled and went on with her pace for a while, as I was seriously preparing myself to tell Yui about the rumor at that point. Finally, my chance arose when Yui was done with her stories.

I spoke up before she had a chance to start a new story. "Umm... sis," I addressed her with small voice. "You know, I, umm... I really think that maaybeee... we shouldn't be too close to each other when we're in school. Or at least, not in front of public, if you know what I'm saying."

Yui immediately stopped dead in her track. I gulped nervously and cast my face downward, as I wasn't brave enough to meet her face right now. Silence engulfed us for several seconds, before Yui finally spoke, "... is this because that rumor that I heard recently?"

...

...

How can someone that's usually too dense to read the mood for most of the time suddenly become so sharp when it comes to my matter?

"Ah... you really have known about that already?" I smiled hollowly and let out a long huff. But I immediately regained my composure, as I had some important clarification to make. "Just so you know, I DIDN'T do whatever bad things that rumor said. It's just huge misunderstanding," I stated clearly and full of confidence.

"I... I just don't want your friends to shun you if they know your brother is a pervert. So until I can clear my name, I think it's best if we don't let them know about the relation between us."

"They already know," Yui responded almost instantly, which made my face froze. "...Huh?" I asked in disbelief. But Yui just casually started walking again, "I'll explain along the way. Hurry up, Shinji-nii! I still have to prepare our dinner," She told me to come with her usual tone. Hearing that, I could only oblige and follow her.

"My classmates starting to talk about that this morning," Yui started her explanation. "They said the infamous 'perverted trio' had struck again, and this time, they finally manage to recruit a new member. And this new member apparently was a new transfer student," she explained.

"They knew I was a transfer student too, so they immediately asked me about this. I told them the truth, that you're my brother and I'm sure all of this rumor was only a mistake. The end."

I was utterly touched, but I also felt guilty at the same time. I had to try my best to form one coherent sentence without shedding my tears "Yui... I-I was... I didn't know..."

"Stop right there!" Yui raised her palm in front of my mouth, making me stopped. "I don't ask for apology. I won't ask for gratitude, either," she stated so seriously. "I only did what I wanted to do. Besides, I knew you wouldn't do something stupid like peeping, nii. Even if you did, I figured you wouldn't get caught that easily, right?" she said jokingly while sticking her tongue out and winked at me.

...

... Damn this overly-cute jailbait little sister! I wanna hug her already!

After calming myself down, I asked one more question in the back of my mind. "So... after you told them that, what happened? What's their reaction?" I asked urgently. Yui just shrugged and said nonchalantly, "well, most of them are skeptic about it, of course. But I honestly don't care. They can believe whatever they wanted, and I will believe what I want to. Isn't that what you always say to me, Shinji-nii?" She said again, but immediately added, "and besides, not all of them didn't believe me," she said that and looked at me meaningfully.

It took me a second to realize that I knew the person she was mentioning. "...You mean Toujou?" I asked. She gave me a wide grin and thumbs up. "You know, Koneko-chan seems like she doesn't care about the rumor, too. As a proof, when I asked her to have a lunch with me and my brother, she accepted without much trouble," she said.

Now that I thought about it, I guess it's weird if she had already known about the rumor, and still wanted to have a lunch with me. _"Huh, to think I fail to recognize that"_ , I pondered as I made a mental note to thank Toujou later.

"Now we can go back to the main problem, right?" suddenly Yui's tone change into more serious. "Shinji-nii, what exactly got you into this mess in the first place?" she asked seriously.

So I told her the truth. About my first meeting with Issei behind the dojo, he and his two perverted friends being my classmates, how my reputation in class suffered after they proclaimed me as one of them, and finally the time when I went to back of the dojo to look for my 'wallet' and got dragged into the mess with them.

Yui was genuinely flabbergasted when I finished my story. She then massaged her temple with her fingers and while saying, "... you certainly have one unique trait of attracting troublesome people, don't you, nii?" She sighed after saying that.

" _Like you, for example..."_ I thought, but decided not to say it out loud, as I still needed my dinner. Instead, I said, "hey, don't blame me for it! It's really out of my control!" I protested. "So, what do you think I should do?" I asked Yui.

"Hmm..." she pondered for a second. "I guess the best way is..."

Yui and I then discussed about what I should do to clean my name along the way home. The conclusion was finally reached at the same time we reached our house.

Honestly, my jaw was already on the floor when she's done. Not because the idea itself was exceptionally brilliant or anything like that, though. No, it's actually the other way around. The solution she gave was so frigging simple, yet sounded totally solid that I was kinda ashamed that I didn't even think about it before now.

GAHHH Yui, come here you clever little sister you!

"... and I guess that's about it. Are you... HYAAHH~" Yui let out a cute squeal when I hugged her from behind and raised her from the ground in joy.

"YAYY! YAYY! Finally! I love you, sis! WOOHOO!" I then proceed to swing her up and down or in circle. If this plan went well, I maybe would be able to clean my name and avoid the student council sniping me again. Hah, I was truly overjoyed right now. It was just 'maybe', but hey, one should always be positive, right?

"UWAAHHH~~ Let me down, Shinji-nii! Let me down!" I blatantly ignored Yui who was flailing inside my arm right now. I could see her blushing face, but I couldn't care. I just kept swinging her like a maniac in front of our door. Or at least, until Yui's elbow smacked my jaw and made me dropped like a sack of potatoes.

" _Oh, tomorrow's gonna be my turning point."_

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"""HUUHHH? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"""

Such was the response of the perverted trio when I told them about my plan to regain our dignity. Unfortunately, if you couldn't figure the fact from just the all caps alone, they basically didn't seem to agree with it.

"Did you just told us to go and ask for their forgiveness? NEVER!" Matsuda shouted very loudly that made everyone in the class turned their attention to us. _"Haaahh... these guys really don't know how to be discreet, do they?"_ I grumbled in my mind.

"That's right! Moreover, to promise them we would never peep again, that's impossible... no, unforgivable! Nobody will ever deny our right to seek the greatest gift that God has given us! In the form of boobs and asses! Oyy... why did you suddenly wanted to do something stupid like this, Shinji?" Issei gave me a long speech that immediately made me want to shove burning charcoal down his throat.

"Is it... because of the student council? As I thought, they really did brainwash you yesterday and made you their pet, didn't they? And now they give you an order to sabotage us? This is unforgivable, Shinji!" Last but not least, Motohama rambled something completely irrelevant as he pointed at me.

If you still didn't catch my plan even until now, it's actually pretty simple. We would just go to the kendo club, apologized, and promised them we wouldn't do something like that ever again. An ultimate foolproof plan that could be guaranteed 99% successful. Sure, they might not accept our apology immediately, but at least if we could show them we're sincere about apologizing, they might someday forgive us.

But even for something that easy, these three still blatantly refused to do it. And not for good reason, mind you. They just refused because of their stupid pride and stupid obsession for girl's body.

I smacked my forehead pretty hard and sighed at this pointless argument we're currently engaged in. I had to resist an urge to just grab their head and smashed it to the nearest wall, as I knew it wouldn't solve anything. Instead, I breathed and actually managed to explain my reasoning to them without raising my voice even for once.

"Now, look here, guys…" I spoke with the calmest voice I could muster. "You all want to be popular, right?" I asked, which was responded by "OF COURSE!" by all three of them simultaneously.

"Then you gotta change, dude! You do realize what you've done all these times actually makes you **even less** popular, right?" I stated full of confidence.

They flinched and averted their eyes simultaneously after hearing that. "See, you DO realize that, after all!" I concluded in triumph. Then I sighed, "Guys, listen... While I'm aware I'm not the best person to lecture you about being popular, as I've never had a girlfriend and all, I do know that peeping and flaunting your… sexual preferences in front of public won't help you. Hell, if anything, it'll just make any girl in your vicinity feels…how do I say it…inconvenience. Well… I'm sure all of you are already aware of that, though." I explained thoroughly, and successfully made them contemplate in silence.

"Sure, we maybe can't change everybody's opinion about us overnight. But if we could just convince kendo club to forgive us, we maybe will have a chance to clean our name forever. After that, maybe you finally will have a chance to become popular!" I ended my explanation like that.

Silence engulfed us for a second. They thought about what I said so hard to the point I could see it showing on their face. After several seconds of silence discussion between three of them, they finally addressed me.

"… Do you really think this plan will work, Shinji? I mean, I highly doubt they will forgive us that easily after everything we had done to them," Issei voiced his doubt, representing all his friends'. I shared their doubts too, but I had to look confident in order to convince them to go through this.

I plastered my most-confident smirk and said, "don't worry, guys. I got a plan."

"… _that hopefully will work."_

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"… Kido-san, may I know on what base you asked us all of this?"

Sona-kaichou glared at me, still with her usual cold and stoic expression. Though this time, I admitted I maybe had pushed my luck a little bit too far.

So long story short, after my conversation with my friends, I immediately dashed to the student council room. I had to meet kaichou as soon as possible to ask her favor about this plan of mine to regain my reputation.

"Because I know you'll definitely be able to convince them to forgive us. So, I humbly ask you to help us here, kaichou!" I bowed down deeply in front of her and every member of student council that was staring at me right now.

Why would I come back to this place and ask her to help us, you might ask? Well… I actually had a clear purpose for this one, so hear me out for a second.

First, I know how much the student council was respected in this school, especially Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou. If I managed to get their support on this one, that would be really helping.

Second, the kendo club would be bound to at least listen to us if we got student council as a backup and mediator.

Well...of course I also knew that doing this would basically be the same as admitting my lies in front of the student council. But, I somehow had a feeling that Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou was already aware of that. Besides, this matter took the most priority as for now.

Based on these reasons, I finally decided to risk myself to go to this place, bowed my head, and generally humiliating myself by asking a favor to the student council.

I waited for kaichou to ask me to raise my head, but it never came. I didn't know what exactly was happening because I was bowing, but I could feel there's some silent discussion going on.

"And what would you give us in exchange of our support, Kido-san?" Sona-kaichou suddenly asked me a question. I raised my head and answered, "umm… I guess I will owe you a favor then, kaichou. If you help me now, I promised I will repay you somehow."

As I said that, I took a glance of every member in the room, and I just realized now that there's only one boy among 7 girls (including Sona-kaichou and Tsubaki-fuku kaichou). And gosh, are all of them beautiful as heck. Each one of them was cute and beautiful in their own unique way.

I could see Meguri-san, the cute reddish-haired girl I just met yesterday, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Hah, like we can trust the word of a pervert like him! Kaichou, we don't have to help him at all! This guy just wants to use this opportunity to get closer to our members, especially you. I know these perverts' tricks all too well." Suddenly, the only boy in the room (besides me) accused me like that.

This smug-faced guy has short pale blond hair and quite a handsome face with grey eyes. He was looking at me with degrading and judging eyes, like he knew exactly what had happened.

Fortunately, these kinds of provocation were nothing to me. So instead of feeling offended, I decided to play along with his game.

"Wow, to think you actually know all my trick~" I smiled without humor. "You must be either have too much free time, or you're one very experienced pervert as well. After all, it takes one to know one, right?" I said that for all the members to hear.

That arrogant idiot immediately turned red in anger. "WHATT?! YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU…"

"Saji…" suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped significantly. Sona-kaichou was glaring dagger at the arrogant idiot. "Behave yourself..." and after she said that, he whimpered and cowered to the corner of the room.

"I apologize for his behavior, Kido-san," kaichou apologized to me. "As for your request, we will assist you in any way we can. After all, it's also our job to help student who seriously want to redeem themselves." Kaichou told me.

But she quickly added before I could express my happiness. "But I would also keep your promise, Kido-san. You owe us one starting today. Just assume it as a token of reminder for this incident," kaichou stated while adjusting her glasses.

I smiled and nodded my head. "Yeah, no problem about that. Thank you kaichou!" I bowed again.

"Now, what would you need us to do?" kaichou asked again, to which I smirked and said, "well, here's the plan..."

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Thanks for agreeing to this, Meguri-san," I thanked Meguri-san who was walking beside me to the dojo. She responded with a grin, "Hehe... it's okay, Kido-kun. After all, we as fellow student and friend should always help each other, right?"

Hearing her said that actually soothed my mind. _"Wow, are we really friend now?"_ I smiled in my heart. I'm so lucky kaichou chose her as our mediator for today.

"I'm so not agreeing to this though…" one grumbling sound could be heard from behind me.

...

...

... oh, along with the pompous idiot too, I guess.

"Now, now, Saji-kun. This is kaichou's order, you know? And this is partially your fault too for making ruckus back in the room," Meguri-san lightly scolded him, which he responded by more grumbling.

"Yeah, she's right, expert pervert-san. You shouldn't have had made ruckus back there, expert pervert-san," I quipped while smirking.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! I have a name, you prick! It's Saji Genshirou, the proud member of student council! Remember that well!" This Saji guy shouted and pointed at me but couldn't care less. He already lost my respect as soon as he behaved like a jerk back in the student council room.

Just for the catch up, we're... I mean I, the perverted trio (who still looked rather skeptic about this whole plan in general), Meguri-san, and that Saji guy were walking together to the dojo after school was over. Actually, kaichou had suggested me to wait until tomorrow so she could warn the kendo club beforehand. But I told her we had to do it today. In fact, the sooner the better. I just had to clear all this misunderstanding ASAP.

So, kaichou had to picked two of her members to be the student council's representatives. Meguri-san volunteered, and kaichou ordered Saji to come and help me because he had cause me trouble beforehand. Even if both of us couldn't be more disagree, I couldn't just refuse kaichou's offer, and Saji was pretty much kaichou's obedient dog, so in the end we (albeit forced) agreed to help each other just this time only.

We all eventually arrived at the dojo. Though all the kendo club immediately put up their guard when they see me and the perverted trio (who had been uncharacteristically quiet all this time), Meguri-san and Saji somehow managed to appease them to lower their weapons and talk (it's definitely a good choice to brought them here) I then calmly stated our purpose for coming here.

"KYAAHHH~ NOOO!" Such was those girls' response at my genuine attempt to apologize. Although it stung (so much!), I forced myself to be strong and did the appropriate follow-up.

"Okay, we know we have caused you a lot of trouble and inconvenience, but now we really want to apologize and promise we won't do it again. Please reconsider this. We promise we will do anything to pay for the trouble we have caused," I said as I bowed.

The kendo girls had a silent discussion between themselves for a while, before one of them decided to speak. "Even if you said that, why are you the only one apologizing here? I mean, you just peeped at us one time, but **those guys**..." she spoke that last few words in utter disgust. "They had done that so many times, and why didn't I see any of their attempt to apologize at us?"

I turned my face to see who she had been speaking about. And of course, it was my fellow criminal-in-charge, the perverted trio. They had been standing very still during our conversation, didn't let out even a smallest sound and with their faces cast downwards so I couldn't see their expression very well.

Seeing that, I hastily approached them in annoyance. "Dude, the hell's wrong with you guys? C'mon man! I need your cooperation if we want this to succeed," I urged.

They gave me silent contempt. I sighed in frustration and just about to shake their mind out of the trance when they simultaneously grabbed my shoulder first.

"I'm sorry, dude…" Issei spoke in small, almost unrecognizable voice. "… but we just CAN'T DO IT AFTER ALL!" Suddenly he roared so loudly I had to cover my ears to avoid deafness.

""HELL YEAH! You tell them, Issei!"" Matsuda and Motohama immediately followed enthusiastically, which worsen the situation even further.

"SHINJI, listen to me! Female body is created for a reason!" Somehow Issei started lecturing me, which vexed me even more. "Those boobs! Those asses! Those greatest gifts the God Himself has given us have to be savored by us, men! There's no way we could just neglect it when we knew those boobs and asses were on full display in the changing room! NO, even if we know doing this will not make us popular, we can't just ignore them! Besides, there's no way I could become a harem king if I can't admire female's body, am I right?" Issei ended his useless speech and his friends immediately cheered for him.

I could only sigh in defeat when I realized all the kendo club who had been listening to their dumb babble inched away from us in utter disgust and contempt. Some of them actually retorted, though. And soon, our about-to-be discussion turned into childish second-grader bickering.

"It... doesn't really go as planned, isn't it?" Meguri-san whispered to me, while continue looking at the catastrophe in front of us. "What are you gonna do now, Kido-kun?" She asked me the million-dollar question.

Naturally, I answered simply with, "I'm going home," then hauled my exhausted body away from that place before my headache got even worse.

"Hmm... I guess then you ca... Heh? What did you just say?" Meguri-san slipped in disbelief. I was too tired to respond her, so I kept my silence and walked away. The only thing I wanted to do now was to go home and hit the bed.

... and to forget any of this bullshit ever happened. Yep, that's also important.

"Wa...wait-wait-WAIT!" Meguri-san suddenly appeared in front of my way, with her arms spread open. "You're just gonna leave like that? Without any other word?" She asked with her voice slightly louder.

"Oh yeah, I forgot..." I responded in totally zombie-like voice. "Thank you for your help, Meguri-san. Really appreciate it. Please be careful on your way home," I spoke while bowing slightly.

"Oh yeah, your welc... NOT!" She retorted loudly. "Why did you suddenly want to leave?! And why are you thanking me like the matter has been solved?! It hasn't even started yet! We can't just leave them quarrelling like that, you dummy!" She then started rambling exactly like Yui when she's angry at me.

"...What do you think we can do now, Meguri-san?" I asked with my signature zombie-like voice and dead-fish gaze. "Now that my friends had completely rejected my plan, and even pulled out that stupid speech for crying out loud, there's no way I could convince them to apologize anymore. And it's not like I can apologize to the kendo club by myself. So, the best course of action now is to go home, sleep, and forget any of this ever happened," I explained blankly.

"Oh, and I'm sorry for using up your time for something useless like this, Meguri-san. Please tell kaichou that I'm sorry for keep bothering her for these past few days too," I added, still without emotion. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"No, wait! You can't just give up like..."

... "Do I come on a bad time?"

Everybody in the area froze after hearing that voice. The bickering group suddenly went silence, Saji (who I completely forgot was there) stopped trying to calm them down, Meguri-san suddenly stopped pulling my sleeve, and so I bound to turn my face to the source of the voice.

There was a male student standing there, smiling confusedly at what happened. He has quite a handsome face and somewhat calming expression. Besides that, he also has short blond hair, soothing blue eyes, and after squinting my eyes I could tell he also has a mole underneath his left eye.

"KYYAAHHHH~~ Kiba-kun!" Suddenly, like well-coordinated combat machines, the kendo girls rushed to that guy like a big wave, leaving the trio alone. The trio immediately cursed that guy like grade-schoolers, something like 'Die, you handsome!' or 'Popular guy should just go extinct!'

I inched closer to Meguri-san, who had been grabbing my sleeve ever since that guy's arrival. "Who's that, Meguri-san?" I asked one short question.

"Oh, that's Kiba Yuuto, second year just like us. He's currently the most popular boys in this school, and everyone calls him 'prince of Kuoh Academy' or something like that. She also had many fans club, if I remember correctly" She explained. I could only nod my head as response.

"What's the problem here, ladies? Why were you all gathering out here?" That Kiba guy asked with genuine concerned voice, which somehow made the girls squealed in joy even more.

"It's them, Kiba-kun! Those perverts came causing trouble here!" One of the girls shouted while pointing at Issei and co. (me included) I could only sigh at that. Great, she reported us to their knight in shining armor. I wondered what will happen next?

He looked back and forth between the perverted trio who had been booing him ever since he came around, and me who just standing around doing nothing. He then approached me with a bright smile on his face.

... Somehow though, this guy's smile seemed so...wrong, to me.

"Good evening, Meguri-san," he then greeted Meguri-san who had been standing beside me. "And... is this the new transfer student that I've heard so much about?" He gestured toward me. Meguri-san greeted him back and introduced us. "Oh, yeah, you're right! This is Kido Shinji-san, the new transfer student," she cheerfully gestured to me.

"I'm Kiba Yuuto, second year. Pleased to meet you, Kido-kun," He offered me his hand while smiling. I wasn't sure whether I could shake his hand, though. Not because I thought myself too highly or anything, but because as soon as he did that, every last one of the kendo girls suddenly screaming in protest.

"Noo... you can't shake his hand, Kiba-kun~ He'll infect you!"

"Stay away from Kiba-kun, you pervert!"

"Please stay away from him, Kiba-kun~ He's not worthy of being around you!"

... and more things along these lines.

While my heart was still sore after those cruel remarks, I don't see any reason to disrespect him. After all, it's not like he got any bad intention or some sort, so I shook his hand, which inevitably leading to even harder screams from the girls (heck, there were even some who passed out on the spot) and introduced myself.

"I'm Kido Shinji, second year. And if I may know, what're you doing here? You're not member of this club, aren't you?" I asked, to which he smiled weakly. "Not really, no..." he answered weakly, like he had actually dragged here by these piranhas (/girls). "I'm here to help with the club. Sometimes, I do some favor for girls that asked for my help with their club activities, and today is kendo club's turn."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're actually helping around the clubs just because you were 'asked'?" I said in confusion. He responded me with weak smile again. "Ahh... it's not every day, though. I still have my own club to attend to soo..." he stopped, maybe hoping I'd caught his meaning. And yeah, I kinda did.

Handsome face along with gentleman attitude. I guess it came as no surprise that this guy is the most popular guy in the school. Moreover, he's also friendly (even to the infamous pervert like me) and helpful to boot. If this guy actually wanted to, I guess he would be the closest one to become a harem king in this school. There's no way Issei, Matsuda, or Motohama could ever compete with this guy in term of popularity.

"OH YEAH!" Suddenly, Meguri-san shouted so loudly, instantly shifting our attention to her. "I know how we can settle this dispute!" She said that while looking back and forth between me and the kendo club. From her grin, that somehow sent chill down my spine, I immediately knew whatever she gonna say next, I wouldn't like it.

"We can settle this with a duel!"

...

... Oh God, what did I get myself into?

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"..."

"Kido-kun..."

"..."

"Umm... Kido-kun, do you hear me?"

"..."

"Uuu... you're still angry, aren't you?"

"... Well, I guess now you have given me a chance to make them forgive me and forget everything about this whole debacle, I can't be THAT mad at you," I grumbled in annoyance. "But seriously, Meguri-san, WHAT THE SWIVEL WERE YOU THINKING?" I half-shouted at her, who was still trying to strap my kendo gear in place.

"Hey, at least you got your chance, dude! Stop being such a wimp and blaming your misfortune on others, would you?" Saji who was also helping me suddenly retorted harshly. I could only sigh in annoyance at that. As far as I was irritated by his remark, I could tell he's right.

Right now, all of us were inside the dojo, and I was dressed in full kendo gear from head to toe. When Meguri-san suggested duel, she also set the condition that the loser had to obey whatever the winner told them to do, and that condition would be fully approved by the student council itself.

"Hah! Serves you right, you pervert! There's no way you can win against Kiba-kun! Just wait and see, if we win, we'll make you and your friends our slaves for the rest of your time here!" One of the kendo girls stated that while pointing to my face, and soon followed by the others.

... Just my third day in school and I was already threatened to spend the rest of it as a slave. Just my luck.

"Hey hey, why don't we told them to show us their boobs if they lose? That would be totally epic!"

"Oohhh... what about if we win, they all can become our girlfriend all at once, so we can finally have our own harem!"

"Or better yet, we should make them our slaves. So they can't defy us and will do anything we demand, even if... uhe...uheehehehe..."

" _Focus on the match, Shinji! Ignore those obnoxious voices... ignore... IGNORE!"_ I shouted in my own mind to calm and free myself from outside nuisance, that being the dumbass trio. Instead, I tried to focus on my opponent.

Kiba seemed so relaxed, sitting in _seiza_ position with all his gears already on. There's _shinai_ laying beside him, ready to be used. All the kendo girls were looking at him in awe and excitement while squealing continuously. His overall posture showed me that it's not his first time doing kendo, which basically mean he had more experience than me.

"Just for reference, Meguri-san..." I addressed her while she's busy tying my chest guard strap. "Is he strong?" I pointed at Kiba and asked, and suddenly her expression turned... complicated.

"Umm... ah, I actually don't really know," she said nervously while scratching her hair and averted her gaze immediately, indicating that she lied. "...but I think you could beat him, Kido-san... probably," she smiled awkwardly at me, which effectively got me even more nervous.

"I really want to hear your base of saying that..." I sighed and added, "You know, I've never done kendo in my life. The only time I ever hold a _shinai_ was only for self-training, and the last time I did that was around a year ago. If that Kiba guy is a good kendo, then I'm as good as toast!" I said in frustration.

"Heh?" She tilted her head in confusion at me. "...Are you serious?" she asked in small voice, to which I only nodded. "Hmm..." she then peered at me for a while before suddenly shouted, "HEEHH... YOU'RE TELLING THE TRUTH?!"

Again, everybody's attention shifted to us. "Wh... wh-wh-what should we do? What should we do, Kido-san?" I didn't know why exactly, but Meguri-san suddenly started panicking. I had to grab her shoulder to calm her down.

"Wow, easy there, Meguri-san! What's wrong with you?" I tried to calm her down. After a while, her breath went back to normal pace, and then she addressed me, "sorry, Kido-kun... I picked this method because I thought you at least already have an experience in martial arts. I'm so sorry!" while bowing deeply at me, which was kinda startling.

I didn't have a heart to continue being angry at her, so I just sighed and said, "It's okay. What's done is done, I guess. But why did you think I have any experience with martial arts, anyway?"

She looked hesitating for a second, before decided to say, "umm... I'm not sure, really. It's just... I have a gut feeling that says you're not really unfamiliar with sword, Kido-kun.

...

... _Ba-dump_

This time, I was the one who averted my eyes. "...maybe long time ago," I answered shortly, cutting her attempt to ask further question. Soon, she finished tying the last knot in my armor. With that ready, I step forward into the arena.

"Sorry for involving you into this fight, dude," I apologized to Kiba when we were already in the arena. To my apology, he just smiled weakly, "it's okay. I already promise these girls to help, after all. Besides..." he stopped for a second, then added, "... I think it's a good opportunity to determine your capability, Kido-kun. So sorry, but I have to do this quiet seriously this time."

...

... wait, what did he mean by 'determine my capability?'

"Alright, to avoid unfairness, I'll be the judge of this duel." Saji stepped up. "The rule is simple. Anyone who manage to land a hit on his opponent body gain a point, and you win if you can score 2 points before your opponent. Is that clear?" He stated. Kiba and I nodded together, then we both stood straight to face each other.

"Do your best, Kiba-kun~"

"Don't lose to that pervert!"

"Please be safe, Kiba-kun!"

"Kyaahh~ Kiba-kun, you're my prince!"

"Kiba-kun, fightt~~"

From the start, the cheers already came for Kiba from his fanatic fangirls. As for me...

"Beat him senseless, Shinji!"

"Show him what we, unpopular boys are capable of!"

"Die, you handsome!"

I got three perverts cheering me up. Haaah... what an unfair world.

"Do your best, Kido-kun!" Suddenly, I could hear Meguri-san voice among the cheers. Not wanting to disappoint her, I gripped my shinai and took my stance in confidence.

"Alright, contestant in position. Now... wait, what the hell are you doing, Kido?" Saji abruptly stopped to retort me. I was just about to ask what's wrong, when suddenly every girl in the kendo club laughed very loudly.

"HAHAHA... what is he doing?"

"What kind of stance is that?"

"Does he even know kendo?"

"AHAHAHA... ouch, my stomach!"

I could hear some girls said that in amidst of their laughter. I could also hear my friends face-palming behind me. I glanced to Meguri-san, and she hastily signaled me to look downward.

So I did, and I recognized the problem immediately.

Apparently, because of stupid habit of mine, I didn't end up standing in the correct stance like Kiba; with body straight, both feet parallel on the ground, and sword's point raised with two hands gripping the hilt. Instead, my stance took the word 'meta' to the new level.

My body leaned forward with my left foot far in front of my right. Also, instead of handling the sword with both hands, I only used my right hand to hold my sword loosely, and I positioned my left shoulder, along with my left arm firmly in front my body, like I was holding something in front of me.

... Curse this frigging habit.

"Quit fooling around, you idiot! We can't start like this!" Saji urged me, and I could only hope I didn't blush in embarrassment that much as I assumed the same stance as Kiba.

And that's when I notice Kiba was looking at me weirdly.

He didn't laugh, smirk, or look at me pitifully like the kendo girls do. He didn't get embarrassed of my action like my friends and Meguri-san do. He also didn't get angry and be annoyed like Saji do. Instead, he looked... no, he observed me like I just did something that truly fascinating for him. It's like... he took my stance just now seriously.

His staple laid-back smile had completely gone, replaced by one serious expression I'd never imagined would seeing from a friendly guy like him.

"Now that both contestant ready..." Saji's voice snapped me out of my trance. "I will start now." He then put his hand between us. **"Ready... GO!"**

As soon as the match began, Kiba ran toward me. _"Ohh... he's quite fast!"_ I thought to myself as I prepared myself for his assault. After closing enough gap between us, Kiba immediately swung his sword onto my head in a downward swing. I side-stepped to the right to dodge the incoming attack, and he inched back and assumed his normal stance.

Our eyes were locked together for several seconds, before Kiba decided to attack again. He used his natural speed to close the gap between us in a second, and this time he bent his body forward and thrust his weapon to my face. Instinctively...

... well, this time, my instinct disappointed me.

I could have just avoided his thrust by simple side-step, but nooo... my instinct had to do something unnecessary. Seeing his sword's tip came onto my face fast, instead of dodging it, I used my left hand to parry his sword's thrust and slapped it aside. My tactic succeeded, and that temporary left him unguarded for a second. I didn't waste my time and immediately swung my sword diagonally upright toward him...

"KOTE! Point for Kiba!" Saji shouted, and immediately followed by big cheers by the kendo girls.

I could only be stunned in place, unable to comprehend what just happened until Meguri-san shouted at me from outside the arena. "KIDO-KUN! YOU CAN'T USE YOUR HAND TO DEFLECT THE STRIKE IN KENDO! THAT'LL GIVE YOUR OPPONENT THE POINT!"

" _Thanks for the late reminder, Meguri-san!"_ I grumbled in my heart. I rubbed my left wrist, checking if there's any pain. Fortunately, I felt no injuries. I slapped both my cheeks to wake myself up. _"Okay, just stop using your left hand to block, Shinji! This is Kendo, not a free battle! Start learning the rules!"_ I scolded myself.

Before the round started, I got a chance to analyze what just happened on the first round and managed to pull 3 conclusions about my opponent.

First; this guy was not an amateur in Kendo. He knew his movement very well, and overall seemed to know what he's doing. Very different from me, who mistook my first stance and used my hand to block the sword.

Second; his speed was his main weapon. His frontal swift attack at the beginning of the match ultimately proofed it. Person with speed always set his eyes on the first hit, and always tried to use continuous attack to catch his opponent unguarded, that's what I'd learned.

Third; he's actually not that strong. When I rubbed my left wrist where I was exactly hit, I didn't feel any pain, even the slightest. So I could conclude he actually didn't have that much power within him, and therefore had to rely fully on his speed. Well... either that, or he just held back a lot when he attacked me that time. But I guess I could still exploit this somehow.

"Are you both ready?" Again, Saji's snapped me up. He then got ready to give the signal. **"Ready... GO!"**

I immediately put up my guard, assuming he would immediately charge at me again. But surprisingly, he didn't do it like last time. Instead, he held his position, as if waiting for me to attack him.

" _Weird..."_ I thought. If he's really a speed type like what I'd just guessed, there's no way he would just stand still waiting for me like that. People who rely on speed usually use their advantage to get the first strike, or at least keep moving swiftly to confuse their opponent. Or at least... that's what I can conclude from my fight against 'him'

So it's either bluff, or he still got something up his sleeve.

I moved step-by-step toward him. He still didn't move, as if provocating me. When we were close enough, I decided to open my assault.

I swung my _shinai_ downward to see how he would react. He blocked it with his _shinai_ , then I continued to swing my sword multiple times toward the general area of his torso. He still didn't let down his block until my fourth strike, when he parried my sword to the side and swiftly went for my head.

I side-stepped just before his sword hit my helmet and managed to gain a little distance between us. The crowds cheered at that close call, and Kiba decided to use this opportunity to charge at me. He released a couple of swings and thrusts, but fortunately I could anticipate all of them. He didn't stop and kept attacking me relentlessly, forced me into defensive and gave me no room to make any counter attack.

" _This guy is seriously strong, dammit!"_ I cursed in amidst of being assaulted by multiple sword strikes. This guy is really not just 'not an amateur' level, he's full-blown pro! His posture while standing, his fierceness in attacking, and his calm way to study and judge his opponent, all indicating that he was very used to do this. Hell, I could bet you all my money that he's no stranger to sword fight in general, even!

But fortunately, I could point out one of his weakness. _"His movement and attack pattern_ _somehow really resemble Ren..."_ I thought as I dodge one more incoming strike to the head. And while it might be didn't sound like an advantage to you, I had to tell you that I had fought him dozens of time. I knew his attack pattern and strategy all too well. _"And if I'm right, he should be vulnerable at... this!"_

I kept blocking and parrying until Kiba switched his stance to thrust me with his sword. I side-stepped lightly and managed to get out of his attack zone. While he's still unbalanced after that failed strike, I took that chance and swipe his side with my sword.

_*THWACCKKK*_

_..._

_..._

Silence engulfed the room for several seconds. I just guessed I had done something wrong again Saji announced with loud voice, "DO! Point for Kido!"

" **HELL YEAH! WOOHOOO..."** Suddenly, Issei cheered really loud, immediately followed by Matsuda and Motohama. Some of the kendo girls booed and glared at me in anger for hitting their prince, and some others even immediately rushed into the arena to check on him (even if he looks very fine to me)

"YATTAAA... Kido-kun, you did it!" Meguri-san hopped in joy. Her twin tail swayed up and down in excitement. _"Seriously... they all know it's still not done yet, right?"_ I chuckled slightly at my friends' antics. But now, I felt I really had a hope to defeat him, even if it's only a little. I breathed in and out to calm myself, then went back to the middle of the arena to prepare for our last round.

"You're good, Kido-san. Even better than what I'd originally hoped," Kiba suddenly let out one genuine praise for me.

"Thanks, you too. So much for 'only helping' in kendo club, huh?" I said half-jokingly at him. He chuckled, then added something with small voice I could barely recognize.

"...Then, I guess I can be a little bit more serious."

...

... Huh?

_*ZOOOMM~*_

Suddenly, a wave of... how do I even describe this? Fear? Terror? Malice? Or all of the above?

... Anyway, after Kiba muttered something incoherently, I could feel something wrong happened. The temperature in the room slightly dropped, there's some kind of pressure choked me and threatened to force me down to the ground, my whole body trembled, and I could also feel I was sweating bullets. It took all of my will power to keep standing here, and not fell on my knees whimpering.

"WAIITTT! KIBA-KUN!"

"OYYY... THIS IS TOO FAR, KIBA!"

Somehow, I could hear Meguri-san and Saji's voice shouting in alarm amidst this intense pressure that made my ears rang mercilessly. How could they still shout like that amidst this bizarre feeling, I didn't know. I tried to open my eyes to confirm what was happening, but I knew this heavy nausea would make me hurl if I did that, so I regressed.

As abruptly as it came, the bizarre feeling suddenly subsided. The world's back to its normal color, and that intense pressure I felt pressing on my body disappear. My body swayed a little, and just about to fell over when somebody caught and supported me.

"Kido-kun, are you okay?" Meguri-san asked in pure concern while supporting my whole body. I could also see Saji came closer to us, maybe wanted to check my condition. Didn't want to look weak in front of the student council duo, I forced myself to get up.

"I'm okay, guys," I said with weak smile when I finally managed to stand up straight. "Just got a little... light-headed, that's all." But even when I said that, I knew it wasn't just that. That feeling was so sudden, there's no way it could be just simple nausea. "Just for a record... did both of you felt anything... off, just now?" I asked them.

The student council duo glanced at each other in alarm when I asked that. "Uumm...so-sorry, we didn't feel anything," Meguri-san stated, but at the same time averted her eyes from mine. Saji did too, and that honestly made me suspicious, but I couldn't linger too much in this. I got a fight to win.

"Dude, you okay?" New sound resounding in my ears. I looked back and see Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama came to me with concerned expression. Looking at their worried expression, I couldn't help but feeling a little guilty. They had put their fate on the line here because of my selfishness. I wasn't gonna fail now.

I slapped both my cheeks hardly, startling them for a second, before spoke with the most confident voice I could muster. "It's cool, guys! Just got a little dizzy. Don't worry, I could still fight," I smiled at them, then glanced at Saji who had been standing near us. "Continue the duel, dude. I'm okay," I told him seriously.

He looked hesitant for a second, before finally scratched his hair in frustration, "Arghh... okay, okay! But don't blame me if you hurt yourself in the process, okay?" He pointed at my face, then ran back to his position as the judge of the duel.

Meguri-san and the others also went back to their position, and once again left me alone in the arena with Kiba. "Sorry about that delay again, dude," I genuinely apologize to him. "I don't know what had gotten into me. It just suddenly happened," I stated the truth, no matter how fake it sounded. I expected him to at least be annoyed at me, but his reaction honestly surprised me.

"Alright, sorry for the delay. Now we can start again," Saji shouted for all of us to hear. He then raised his hand to give the starter signal.

He smiled apologetically. "It's okay. I should be the one who apologized about that," he stated and bowed slightly at me. "Beside..."

**"Both contestant, Ready..."**

"...I still have to apologize about this later."

**"GO!"**

_*WHUUSSHHH*_

As soon as the round started, Kiba disappeared from his place. No, I'm serious about this! He suddenly just vanished as if he was an air!

... And suddenly appeared on my left.

"HUAHH..." I wouldn't lie, I seriously yelled in surprised when Kiba suddenly teleported to my left with his sword ready to be swung. I instinctively jumped to the right and turned my body to the left to meet his swing.

_*TRUUAANGGG...*_

I managed to block his sword swing, but somehow the force flung me backwards almost 5 meters. I landed on my knees, and my hands were completely staggered after receiving his blow. Before I could even comprehend what was happening in the first place, Kiba already leaped in front of me again, this time with his sword raised up into the air.

... Somehow, I got an ominous feeling that if this strike hit me, my life would end, literally.

In desperation, I rolled sideways to avoid his downward swing. Then, I stepped backward to gain some distance between us for me to catch my breath. I assumed my correct stance again while panting like crazy.

" _What the hell was that?"_ I thought in the middle of my heavy breath. _"That was not human's movement. Human doesn't teleport, dammit!"_ I gritted my teeth so hard in frustration. I already guessed speed was his strong point, but that movements just now were INSANE! He practically just moved so fast it seemed like he disappeared, for swivel sake!

" _Is this my mind playing tricks on me again?"_ I shook my head, trying to determine whether his impossible speed just now was just a hallucination because of the earlier headache. I looked at all the audience to make sure whether they saw the same absurdity I just witnessed.

They all seemed normal. The kendo girls were looking at Kiba in awe and admiration as always. My friends, Issei and co., still cheered at me even if I clearly was on the losing side here. None of them looked surprise; as if they hadn't just seen Kiba moving with the speed of light.

... It didn't seem to be the case with two people, though.

When my gaze fell on Saji and Meguri-san, I immediately realized something's off. They looked like they were trying to look as normal as possible, but somehow, I could tell that they're just pretending. Moreover, they just kept sending me those worried gazes once in a while, making it harder not to notice it. But if they really notice there's something off too, why didn't they tell me?

Also, it was Kiba who had been blinking all over the place like frigging M*gina here! Why the hell were you sending those worried gazes for me? Stop him, for swivel sake!

"Are you done preparing, Kido-kun?" Those low, piercing voice instantly freaked the hell out of me. I once again faced my opponent, who now somehow had gained a short-distance teleportation ability and now was gazing as me with a small smile which contained no feeling at all.

I tried to raise my voice, but it just didn't come out. My body trembled, but somehow this time, I realized it's not because of fear. An oddly familiar sensation that I had been trying to forget all these times was seeping back to my mind once again.

... The trill of a death match.

Kiba's attacks from the start of this round wasn't just fast. It's also full of killing intent that still made me flinch even now when he's not attacking me. Very real and menacing killing intent; just like those people's who had tried to kill me every time we clashed. In fact, it's partially because of his leaking bloodlust that I was able to detect and anticipate his first strike, even before my eyes managed to capture his lightning-fast movement.

I steadied my breath and my posture. Even though I still wasn't really sure what was going on, I did aware of one thing. This duel had become inevitable, and I had to win this in order to find out what happened. Besides, Kiba's gesture already told me that he wouldn't accept any form of surrender, so with that in mind, I gripped my sword harder and faced him with determined gaze.

" _Those who don't fight won't survive,"_ I recited that catchphrase in the back of my mind. After that, I took an initiative and charged at him first.

"Hmm... bold move, Kido-kun," Kiba still had free time to comment me before I closed in and swiped at him. He blocked my sword and moved a little backward to create some space, but this time I didn't give him any chance. I quickly close the gap between us again and stroke him a few times, but he predicted and dodged all of them by a big margin.

Finally, I was the one who was forced to move back from him after realizing this tactic wouldn't work. I gasped for air for a few seconds, trying to figure out his attack and defense pattern. Then, hopefully I would be able to formulate a plan to defeat him.

_*WHUSSHHH*_

" _Shit, again?!"_ I cursed when he suddenly disappeared again. I immediately put up my guard, and right on time when he appeared in front of me and slammed his sword onto me. I parried his sword to the side, and in one movement, bent my knees and thrust forward using my knees like a fully-pressed spring, straight to his chest area.

I caught a glimpse of his smile, and he smoothly side-stepped to my left to avoid the thrust. Unfortunately, that thrusting move left me wide open, similar to what it did to Kiba in the second round. I cursed my own stupidity, as I could only witness in slow motion as Kiba stood beside me, ready to bring down his sword onto my side, the same way I beat him before.

" _ARGHH... God dammit! SCREW IT ALL!"_ Refusing to lose just like that, I did one desperate move to save myself. Since I was in the middle of (failed) charging and couldn't turn my body by myself, I thrust my _shinai_ to the ground beneath me to act as a foothold, then somehow managed to spin my body to the left, and again, used my left hand to swat away his weapon. Then, I moved my sword, which was my only foothold at the moment, and swung it as hard as I could to his abdomen area.

_*THWAACKKK*_

_*BRUAAKKK*_

As I already lost my foothold and was in the middle of a charge, I hit the ground with my head first and slid a few meters before stopping. And maybe because I hit my head, I suddenly felt an extreme case of nausea washed over me. Before I blacked out completely, I could faintly hear one voice said, "wow, you actually did..." and then passed out before the sentence finished.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

...

_"...Do-kun!"_

...

_"Dude, wake..."_

...

**"OYYY! WAKE UP, KIDO!"**

"HUAAHHH... THE HELL?!"

I woke up startled when somebody grab my collar and shouted very loudly beside my ear. I automatically plug my ear and barked to whoever did that in the first place. "Hoyy... Who the hell screamed to my ears just now?"

"Me..." Saji admitted with ease without any guilt showing on his face. "You didn't respond when we tried to wake you up normal style. So I had to resort to extreme way," He said nonchalantly; like he didn't give a damn even if he almost made me deaf. I was just about to protest at him and his cheeky attitude, when I slowly realized the condition I was in.

I was lying on the floor and was surrounded by my friends. All of them had the same worried expression on their face. I rubbed the back of my head to make sure it's okay, then asked one question that pretty much summed up everything that was going on inside my mind. "Umm... what happened?"

Meguri-san glanced at Saji, who just shrugged. She then looked at me, "Umm... how much did you remember about that, Kido-kun?" and asked that question. I tried to remember, and after a while, "Oh yeah, the kendo match stuff..." I blurted the first thing that came into my mind. "...Who won?" I then asked while staring at my surrounding.

Surprisingly, Issei was the one who answered me enthusiastically. "YOU, dude! You forgot about that?" He said with wide grin. "Yeah! You look so cool back then! Swinging your sword like this, and that!" Matsuda and Motohama added with exaggerated gestures.

"And in the end, you fly like thiss..." Issei mimicked my falling moment, "...strike like that, and BAM! You beat that damn handsome with ease!" Issei finished their explanation with style.

Seeing them happy like that, I normally should be happy too. But this time I didn't. Somehow, I felt like I was forgetting something important. Like there are some important details just got removed from my memory.

"Ummm... guys?" I addressed the trio, who were dancing in joy energetically. "This is maybe a weird question, but did something... weird happened at the duel?"

My question got their attention. They looked at each other curiously before asking, "Weird? Like, what weird?" They asked together, to which I answered. "You know, weird like..."

...

...

...

" _Heh...? Like what is it again?"_ I wondered, seemingly forgetting something important. I scratched my head in confusion, and that was when my opponent came to me.

"That was a good fight, Kido-kun," Kiba walked to me with refreshing smile on his face. "I really enjoyed that. You really are a good swordsman!" He offered his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. "You too, dude. I guess we can say it was a close fight..."

...

...

" _Heh, was it? Now I think about it, how exactly did I win that last game?"_ I oddly forgot anything about that. I intended to ask the detail about that to Kiba, but suddenly Saji called for us. "Hey... Kiba! Kido! Come here quick, both of you!"

We complied and came to the middle of the arena. There, I just realized that the atmosphere on the kendo girls' side was very gloomy. Most of them just stood there in silence, like a criminal that just about to be sent to the guillotine. Some of the them were staring at me with mixed feelings. Some stared in anger, some in sadness, but the weirdest thing is, some them were actually staring at me in...fear(?)

"Ehemm... so, I would like to announce the winner of this battle. It is Kido Shinji, the representatives of... his group!" As soon as that announced, Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama were the only three cheered in utter joy. The kendo girls were still silence like we're attending a funeral, and Meguri-san only did a small clap while smiling weakly at me. Saji then turned his attention to me, "Now... as per agreement, you may ask anything to the loser's side."

"HELL YEAH! Now it's the time to build our own harem!" Issei shouted

"Boobs and asses! Here I come!" Matsuda yelled.

"Finally, my dream to have my own slave can be realized, hehehe..." Motohama fixed his glasses and laughed creepily.

Looking at these three's behavior, all those girls inched away in disgust, but now there's a hint of helplessness in their eyes because they knew they couldn't do anything about it. Hell, even Meguri-san couldn't help but being visibly annoyed by their behavior.

... These three really don't know how to read the mood, do they?

"Before you make your decision, may I ask one thing to you, Kido-san?" Kiba suddenly asked with with serious gaze. "If you're kind enough, please let me take whatever punishment you want to give them. After all, it was me who lost this match," Kiba bowed deeply at me as he said that.

**"""Hell No! Go to hell, you handsome prince!"""**

The trio shouted simultaneously, and this time the kendo girls couldn't do anything about it. But for this matter, I actually had already made my decision. No... I guess it's more suitable to say that my wish hadn't changed from before.

"I got it," I stated to Saji. The trio cheered again and stared at me full of hope. On the other hand, the girls looked like they had signed their own death warrant, and now was waiting for the execution.

I walked closer to them, and as soon as I was close enough, I bowed completely 90 degrees in front of them. "PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGY NOW!" I shouted loud and clear for everybody in the room to hear. Then I added hurriedly, "oh...and please forget every bad deed we... I mean **they** , have ever done, will you?"

Pretty much everyone looked at me like I just came falling from the sky. Every girl in front of me stared at me in surprise and disbelief, and the perverted trio... oh boy, would I not forget how funny their expressions were.

I then stood up straight again, "Umm...well, you see..." I tried to explain."...My intention for coming here was to apologize in the first place, and that still didn't change even after that battle, soo... do we get your forgiveness, or what?"

Some of the girls that managed to recover from the shock glanced at each other weirdly, like they still couldn't believe I'd just said that. But after a while, they finally nodded together.

"Fiuhh... finally. How's that, guys?" I turned to the student council's representatives. Saji then just shrugged. "Well...I guess that's..."

"APPROVED! Good job, Kido-kun!" Meguri-san ended his line abruptly while smiling and gave me thumbs up. All the kendo girls finally could breathe a sigh of relief, some of them even cheered in relief and fell on their knees. Kiba approached me and gave me his gratitude. Meguri-san gave me pat on the back and praised me again, and even if he still looked nonchalant, Saji actually came to tell me that I did okay. I guess this was what you call 'happily ever after' ending.

I stretched my body. _"Haah...finally we're done. Now I can go home and..."_

"THE HELL YOU JUST DID, SHINJII...!" triplet angry voices could be heard.

...

... Shit, I forgot about them

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Haha... that was quite bad, wasn't it?"

"...Let's not talk about that anymore. I've had enough of headache-inducing problems for one day."

I grumbled to Kiba who showed his sympathetic smile at me while we were walking together. We had done helping the kendo club cleaned up the dojo, and after that, Kiba asked me whether he could walk with me until the school gate. I agreed immediately, as now I didn't have anyone who could keep me company.

... Oh, and that's because my supposed 'friends' ditched me in anger and went home first.

Here's the recap. After my wish was approved by student council, the perverted trio immediately went ballistic. Basically, they grabbed my collar, and proceed to call me traitor, unfaithful and disappointing friend, and something more along those lines. I stayed silent during their outburst, and soon after, they all just left, even before giving me a chance to explain anything.

It's not like I was mad or disappointed, though. I knew the exact consequences of doing that and thus, I didn't regret my decision at all. After all, being popular or loved by doing that kind of thing certainly wouldn't sit right for me.

After that drama, Kiba offered to help the kendo club with the cleaning up. As I wasn't in hurry to leave (and because I didn't want to accidentally bump into Issei and co. on the way), I offered to help too. Unfortunately, Saji and Meguri-san had to leave early to report this matter to kaichou, so they bid us goodbye and left soon after.

We walked in silence for a few seconds. The sky was already quite dark when we finished with the cleanup, and it's already got even darker now. I wondered if Yui's already at home, and whether she's fine there. I could only hope there wouldn't be anything bad happening to her like two days ago.

"I guess I still haven't showed you my gratitude enough, Kido-kun," Kiba suddenly said, making me turned to him. He then bowed just like what he did in the dojo. "Thank you so much for listening to my request back then. I promise I will repay the debt somehow," he said seriously. I couldn't help to be amazed of this guy's gentleman attitude.

"Hey, raise your head, dude. You don't need to thank me. After all, I didn't fulfill your request, you know." I said calmly. "You asked me to punish you instead of them. I didn't do that, right? So you got nothing to thank me for," I said and continued to walk.

"Is that so?" Kiba confirmed with refreshing smile and walked next to me. "...but I guess I could still thank you for that exciting battle. It's been so long since I could let loose like that."

"Oh yeah... about that..." I scratched my head. "Umm... dude, this is maybe a strange question, but... please answer me seriously." I said to Kiba. "...Did I really win back then?"

I saw Kiba's expression turned weird for some reason. Then, he asked me, "what do you mean by that?" Being asked like that, I could only answer, "Well... to be honest, somehow I couldn't remember anything about that battle in clear details, especially about that last round. I wonder if it's because I hit my head too hard when I fell back then..."

While I was pondering, Kiba touched my shoulder. "Of course you won, Kido-kun. Everyone in the dojo saw how you defeat me with that precise hit to my abdomen," he said while rubbing the left side of his abdomen.

"Yeah, but..."

...

...

_... "Heh? but what?"_

Once again, I felt something weird happened. Still wasn't sure what was it, but it felt like a piece of my memory was abruptly rewrote, which left me with uncomfortable feeling similar to hangover.

"You don't have to be so humble about it, Kido-kun," I heard Kiba said beside me with his hand still on my shoulder. "In fact, may I call you Shinji-kun from now on? I got a feeling that we will become a good friend from here on," he then offered me his hand.

I could only smile weakly to that. While I knew this friendship would make Issei and co. even more pissed at me, I couldn't just reject him like that. Besides, Kiba seemed like a good person in general. He obviously could become better friends than that trio.

Finally, I took his hand and shook it. "Sure. Just don't expect me to call you Yuuto, though. I have a feeling that I will make every girl in this school my enemy if I do that."

He let out a chuckle. I couldn't help but laughed a little too. Wow, after everything that had happened in these past days, this must be one of the best thing that happened to me. I could only hope that it could be this way forever.

"Hmm... it looks like you have someone waiting for you, Shinji-kun." When we almost reach the school gate, Kiba pointed at the gate. There, I could make out one figure who stood alone beside the gate. Said figure was a petite girl with short brown hair. She immediately waved at me when she saw us.

" _Huh, Yui? What the hell is she doing there?"_ I tilted my head in confusion. Yui then ran to us, "Hello~ Shinji-nii... eh, who is this?" She asked while pointing at Kiba. Naturally, Kiba let out his sure-kill charming smile. "My name is Kiba Yuuto. Pleased to meet you, umm..."

"Shinozaki Yui! Ehehe... are you my brother's friend? Nice to meet you too. I hope he doesn't cause you too much trouble," Yui said while smiling energetically. Yup, just leave it to my sister to humiliate me in front of my new friend.

"Why do you still here, sis? Were you waiting for me?" I asked. Yui immediately nodded, "yes, how's the plan, nii? Was it success?" she asked me curiously. I could only scratch my head, "well... sort of."

"Umm... sorry to interrupt, but it looks like I have to go now. I have another appointment with my club," Kiba suddenly interrupted us.

I looked at him curiously. "You still have club activity at this time? Dude, it's dark already, you know," I pointed to the sky.

He could only smile weakly. "Well, I better be quick then. See you again, Shinji-kun, Shinozaki-san," he turned and left us. Yui and I waved good bye as we saw him went back to the school ground. Now I felt kinda guilty for making him accompany me until here. I hoped he wasn't late for his club or anything.

"Now, shall we go home too?" I asked Yui, to which she nodded happily. We then walked together leaving the school ground. "Neee...nii~ what happened back then at the dojo?" Yui asked, still with happy tone.

I sighed and ruffled her hair. "I'll tell you at dinner. Look forward to it, okay?" I answered half-jokingly. "Yayy~ yayy~ You're the best, Shinji-nii!" She overjoyed and immediately hugged my arm.

_*NYUUTTT*_

"Urghh..." I flinched and pulled my arm in haste when I felt burning pain on my wrist. "Eh? Eh? Nii, what happened? Is there something hurt?" Yui asked in panic when I suddenly did that. I rubbed that specific place and checked if there's something wrong.

" _Heh, since when there's a bruise here?"_ I wondered as I observed a quite big and already swollen bruise on my left wrist. _"How could it be here?"_

* * *

XXXXXXX (?) XXXXXXX

* * *

"Sorry I'm late, buchou," Kiba entered the room and immediately apologized. "Got a little sidetracked on the way here," he admitted.

There were some people who were waiting for him in that dim room. The red-haired girl, the one he called buchou, that was sitting behind the desk spoke, "It's alright, Yuuto. Were you helping one of the clubs again?"

"Yeah, that's right. Although..." Kiba's lips then curled up in quite unfamiliar manner, almost like an excited childlike smile. "...this time, I also manage to meet someone interesting."

Another girl with ponytail who was standing behind the red-haired girl spoke up. "Ara ara~ it's really unusual for you to show that kind of smile, Yuuto-kun. I wonder what happened exactly?" she asked.

"Well, to put it simple..." Kiba paused, then continued, "...I had a small sparring session with the new transfer student."

That statement instantly intrigued the red-haired girl. "Give me the detail, Yuuto," she ordered. She then put down her tea cup and rest her chin on her hands.

And soon he did. He told everybody in the room how he was asked to do a sparring duel against the infamous perverted trio's (now perverted quartet) newest member, the new transfer student, Kido Shinji. He also told them every last detail of the match, which naturally left all of them speechless.

"So, you want to say that this Kido Shinji guy could actually held his own against your 'true strength', Yuuto?" The red-haired girl asked at the end of Kiba's explanation. Kiba could only let out a dry smile. "Yes, kaichou. Even if I did give him some handicap, Shinji-kun really did fight on almost the same level as me. As much as it's embarrassing to admit, he could even keep up with my 'speed' somehow."

"Interesting..." the red-haired girl muttered. "Kido Shinji, huh... If I'm not mistaken, isn't that the name of the transfer student that Sona mentioned?" She then asked to the ponytail girl.

"Now that you say it, buchou, I remember it now. Indeed, It is the name of one of two transfer students that just transferred here a few days ago." The ponytail girl answered. "To think that guy could actually keep up with Yuuto-kun in term of swordsmanship. What an interesting fellow~"

"There's actually more than that," suddenly, Kiba interrupted. Everyone immediately shifted their gazes back to him. "It is just my mere hunch and I don't have any proof to back it up, but when I fought him, I ultimately realized that Shinji-kun is actually very used to fighting. Even more, it's more like he's used to fight in life-and-death situation."

The two girls glanced at each other with uncertainty. "Why could you think like that, Yuuto?" The crimson-haired girl asked again, with more of pressing tone this time.

"Remember when I said he took his first stance incorrectly and resulted in everyone in the dojo laughed at him?" Kiba asked. "Yes, I do. What's the connection?" The red-haired girl answered and asked back at the same time.

"While everyone just immediately assumed that his stance was wrong, it's actually not necessarily true. Sure, it was wrong stance in kendo, but his posture back then was a legitimate fighting posture. And while I still didn't know what kind of fighting stance that was, I'm pretty sure it got something to do with the use of shield," Kiba explained. "Moreover, he seemed to just do that so naturally, like he had taken that stance a hundred times over before. I made my conclusion after that fact," Kiba ended his explanation.

Silence filled the room for a couple of seconds, before the ponytail girl decided to ask her buchou. "What will we do now, buchou? Should we observe him, too?"

The red-haired girl pondered for a while, before curling her lips into small smile and shook her head. "No, we don't have to. We already got two candidates to observe, and that is already more than enough. Besides..." her smile then turned a little into playful smile, "...I think we can let Sona handle this one."

"What do you mean, buchou?" The ponytail girl asked curiously. Red-haired girl then turned her rather sly smile to her. "Say Akeno... how many times Sona has ever mentioned someone's name directly to us?" Akeno (ponytail girl) pondered for a while, then ultimately shook her head. "She's hardly ever. Most of the time, she would just mention their class or what year they are in, or even just use the term 'transfer student' when mentioning them. She's almost never given us their name so directly like this case."

"That's because Sona's never really interested in making any real friends. Or rather, she's bad at making friends. That's why she's never really interested to remember someone's name, unless that person is really worthy of her attention," the red-haired girl explained. "Hmm... to think that boy could left an impression on Sona, I wonder what kind of guy he is?" She smiled kinda... maturely, this time.

"You think, the student council will 'take' him, buchou?" Kiba sounded kinda disappointed, like he just lost his one chance to be in one 'group' with his new friend.

"I don't exactly know, but I do know Sona would observe him too from now on, so I think we can left this new student's matter to her." The red-haired girl concluded. "Now, I'd like to hear the report about both of our candidates. Koneko!" She then raised her voice to call the lone girl who had been sitting on the sofa in silence and seemed can't stop munching sweets.

"Yes, buchou," the petite white-haired girl stood up. "Everything's going well. There's still no suspicious movement around both of them," she explained shortly.

"Alright, keep up the good job, Koneko. I'm counting on you, especially on that new girl, Shinozaki Yui. Even though I still can't determine what kind of power she has in her, I could guess that it's quite strong. Please stay with her, okay?" Red haired girl asked and Koneko immediately nodded. "Understood, buchou," she answered, still with stoic expression and monotone voice.

"You too, Yuuto. While I understand your excitement of meeting a new possible comrade, please don't forget to keep your eye on the other boy, alright? His sacred gear is strong, I can feel it. Moreover, there are some reports that say there's some 'suspicious activity' that intend to harm the sacred gear users. So I ask you to watch him closely, is that clear?"

Yuuto nodded obediently, "I understand, buchou." Red-haired girl let out a satisfied smile, then stood up abruptly. "Listen to me guys! The next few days might be the most important turning point in our life! Let's keep doing our best and believe everything will be better. For Gremory's glory!"

That cheer rang inside the room and filled every person with new spirit and energy. Now, they're ready to do their 'club activities' for that day.

...

...

...

And that was what happened; just an ordinary night, doing ordinary routine. They hadn't realized yet that they're about to discover a whole new world; the one behind the glass.


	4. Things Got Weirder (Understatement of the Year)

Compared to what had happened for that first 3 days, the next few days of my school life felt kinda... uneventful.

If you need a recap, here it is.

Basically, for the first three days, I had to deal with a nasty rumor about me being a pervert, all because I got involved with wrong type of people. To solve that misunderstanding once and for all, I had to beg to student council to mediate our reconciliation with the kendo club, the exact same club that we got into problem with.

Long story short, the reconciliation didn't go as smooth as I'd hoped, and I was forced to partake in a little sparring match to solve the problem. Somehow, I won, and as the result the kendo club agreed to forgive us and forget about this problem altogether.

But, that conclusion made my friends (the infamous perverted trio; the wrong type of people I got involved with) angry, and thus they hadn't talk to me anymore afterward. Luckily, I also got a new friend, that being the most popular boy in our school, Kiba Yuuto, who was also my opponent at that sparring match.

... Funny how my circle of friendship changed from the most hated group of guys in the school to the most popular guy in just one day.

Anyway, after that day fateful day, I could feel my reputation in the school got... better, even if only slightly. It's maybe because the perverted trio had ignored me completely, the rumor about me being one of them started to cease.

Now I could walk down the corridor without attracting distasteful glares from every student around me. Lately, I was even able to communicate properly with some of the girls in my class without making them scream.

Also, apparently the rumor about me winning a kendo match against Kiba spread fast like wild fire. Suddenly, I felt that all student could recognize me by face. Every student that saw me immediately stared with curiosity, and some even with slight hint of admiration.

The problem in that was, because most of the student are girls and I'm not really good at being in a limelight, those gazes bothered me very much. Unlike Kiba who can be among a flock of girls and still act cool and composed, I always rather avoid being in the center of attention, as it makes me nervous.

Oh yeah, speaking of Kiba, he turned out to be a really good friend. Though we rarely hung out together (because most of the time he was flocked by his fangirls, and no way in hell I'm gonna endanger myself by plunging into that group of piranhas just to talk to him), he sometimes finds a chance to slip away just to meet up and have a brief chat with me.

Same as mine, Yui's school life turned out to be quite enjoyable for her, too. Aside from having many friends (besides her fellow chibi girl, Toujou), she somehow also had already made quite a big name out of herself; that the news about 'the duo loli mascot of Kuoh' had immediately become one of the trending topics in the school.

Despite that fact, Yui appeared nonchalant, as usual. She kept inviting me to have lunch together every day, along with Toujou that's somehow always sticking together with her. I really hope it's because she genuinely like Yui, not just because Yui forces her or anything. Then again, it's kinda impossible to tell with her because her expression was 99% poker face.

She's not really bad, though. Sometimes I got a chance to talk privately with her when Yui 'left to get something she forgot' (seriously, she did that so often that I ultimately decided that she did that on purpose, just to make us warm up to each other), and from my experience talking to her, I could tell that she is a good and honest girl, even though she rarely smiles; or makes any other facial expression, for that matter.

And to complete the series of good things that happened to us in these past few days, I'd like to tell you that I'd already got a part-time job, and Yui'd already joined a club.

I managed to score a job at a convenience store near our house. While I wasn't in a dire need of money or anything (as my dad still regularly send me some from his workplace overseas), I needed something to kill my boredom. As I didn't find any of the club in my school interesting, I resorted to part-time job, because that way I could spend my time effectively while earning more pocket money. Killing two birds with one stone.

As for Yui, she was practically scouted by the art club. Apparently, the art club had somehow discovered my sister's talent in drawing and had begged her to join them ever since. Yui was troubled at first, because she originally wanted to help our financial by getting part-time job as well.

When she discussed that matter with me, I just flicked her forehead playfully and said, "don't be stupid, sis. I'm pretty sure there won't be any place that accepts elementary school kid." I said jokingly while smirking. I still remember her making an adorable pout when I said that.

"Besides, I don't do this because there's a problem with our financial condition, kay? I'm just bored, and there's no club in school that gets my attention, so I choose part-time job to kill my time. If you have something more interesting you want to do, then just go and do that," I added.

After that, Yui decided to try the art club, and after some time, she finally found her place there. As a plus, she quickly became one of the ace member in the club, and her reputation sky-rocketed even more.

Now, if you look at it, our life had certainly gotten better, right? I regained my reputation and got a friend and a job, and Yui was still pleasantly enjoying her life as always (as a plus, there's no sign of her 'brother' coming again lately), and she joined a club she could really be comfortable with.

…

...

Well, if you fancy a happily ever after or straight slice-of-life kinda ending without any twisted or mind-blowing event whatsoever, then I highly suggest you to stop reading right now.

Because after this, I will tell you how my life went DOWNHILL after I witnessed my 'former friend' getting murdered in cold blood by his psycho girlfriend with oversized black wings cladded in a bondage suit.

…

…

... No, even I can't make up stuff THAT crazy.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"And… _*pant*_ that must be… _*pant*_ the last box, right?" I panted heavily as I stacked the last box on top of the others. "Fiuuhhh… how the hell can you do this so easily, Yura-san? These boxes are not light," I stretched my back as I addressed a girl that had made me help her carry this box.

She is Yura Tsubasa, a tall, rather androgynous-looking girl, with shoulder-length blue hair, blue eyes, and gallant posture. The term 'beautiful boy' would fit her perfectly, especially when she demonstrated her unimaginable strength. Seriously, I don't lie when I said she could haul two to three boxes at once, when I struggled just to pick one up. Truly a girl you don't want to mess up with.

She was busy arranging these boxes so easily when I called her. Though it didn't seem to be a problem, since she managed to answer me without taking her eyes off them. "Well, I guess it's because I'm used to doing something like this," she said as she put the last box in its place and turned to face me. She then puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips. "It's all about spirit, Kido! Remember that well!"

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so I just let out a small weak laughter. Fortunately, another cheerful voice saved me from that awkward situation. "Tsubasa-senpai! Kido-senpai! Are you two done yet? We have to go back quickly!" In front of the storage room, another girl with long twin-tailed brown hair and green eyes were waiting for us. She wore striped green stockings and green clips on her hair that match her eyes.

"Hurry up! Kaichou won't be happy if we waste too much time here," she urged us. Yura-san and I then got out of the room, and together we walked to the student council room.

...

...

... at this point, some recap maybe in order.

So, does anybody remember about me asking help from Sona-kaichou to mediate my reconciliation with kendo club? Well... if you remember **really** clearly, you'd realize I also said this particular line...

" _I guess I will owe you a favor then, kaichou. If you help me now, I promised I will repay you somehow."_

Yeahhh... so long story short, kaichou demanded for that repayment exactly the day after that whole fiasco. Her demand was for me to become student council's 'assistant' for a week. According to her, student council had become very busy lately, and could use some outside help. Because I'd already promised, I accepted the role and thus, becoming the 'unofficial underling' of student council from that day on.

"Senpai, are you okay? Your face looks grim. Have you had a breakfast before?" The twin-tailed girl peered closer to my face with curious expression on her face. She is Nimura Ruruko, the only first year among the student council members. She is a nice girl in overall, just sometimes has tendency to ignore my personal space unknowingly.

" _Wow, too close!"_ I startled, and instinctively stepped back. "I'm fine, Nimura. Just thinking about...things," I admitted.

Suddenly, my back was slapped with enough force to make me cough really hard (and maybe bruise my spine along the way) I turned and found Yura-san looking at me seriously with her hands on her hip. "Stop with the gloomy expression already, Kido! Look, you make Ruruko worry here," she scolded me.

"I'm not being gloomy. I was just thinking. My face while thinking is always like this," I sighed and pointed at my deadpanned face. These two looked at my face for a few seconds, before suddenly burst out laughing. Sheeshh... was my expression really that funny?

"Hahah...so-sorry, senpai... I-it's just, ha...hahaha," Nimura tried her best to hold her laughter, but ultimately failed to do so.

"HAHAHAHA...well, for one thing, I really do think that kind of expression suit you very much, Kido," Yura-san didn't even hesitate to laugh at me out loud.

"Haha, very funny, guys," I grumbled in annoyance. "Let's just go now, shall we? Kaichou wouldn't be happy if we're late." I walked ahead, leaving them who were still chuckling, slightly behind. _"Well...look at the bright side, Shinji. At least you manage to entertain somebody,"_ I consoled myself as we started walking together again.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"We're back," I announced as we step inside the student council room.

"Ah, welcome back. Thanks for your help, guys," we were immediately greeted back by Kusaka Reya, treasurer of the student council and possibly the most soft-spoken girl around here. She has brown eyes and her long brown hair were done in two braids at the end. I personally think that her blue headband suits her very much, but of course, I never said that directly to her.

"All in the day's work, Kusaka-san," I said. "I see it's still very hectic here in the morning, huh? What should I do next, then?" I asked, ready for my next assignment.

As I said that, I looked around the room. Every member was still very busy doing their own job. Sona-kaichou was sitting behind her desk, arranging forms or some sorts. Tsubaki-fuku kaichou was still obediently standing behind kaichou, providing support and other stuff. Even Meguri-san was busy running back and forth around the room to check any assignment that was given to her. She glanced at us and briefly waved at me, before immediately focused back to her job. And in one corner of the room...

"AAHHH... MOMO-SENPAI! What are you doing?!"

... _"Yep, here we go again,"_ I sighed and muttered in my heart.

In the working desk corner, Saji, who was sitting at his desk and apparently was working on some papers as well, was being seduced by Hanakai Momo, the white-haired member of student council with blue-green eyes. She was nonchalantly pressing her breasts onto Saji's arm, and occasionally whispering something seductively to him.

Although Saji tried his best to stick to his job, it's very clear that even he was wavered by that bold move. His hand was sweating and shaking and his eyes occasionally auto-focused onto Hanakai-san's breasts. But, he didn't even try to shake her off or anything. Haaa... what a wimp.

"Oh...hello, guys! You too, Kido-kun. You all have come back, I see," Hanakai-san waved at us, still not moving back from Saji even though she clearly realized Nimura was already fuming here. It's like she was challenging her.

Soon after, Nimura snapped. "Mouu... enough, Momo-senpai! Please get away from Genshirou-senpai!" She then walked to them furiously and hugged Saji's other arm, then tried to pull them apart. I could just chuckle when I saw this cat fight over the very-troubled Saji.

"Woow~ what a lady killer you are, Saji-kun~ Already building a harem, I see~ I guess It's no surprise that kaichou never look at you that way until now, huh~?" I teased him mercilessly.

Saji could only grunt in frustration. "Ughhh... Shut Up, Kido! Why don't you help me instead of just babbling nonsense over there?!" He shouted back at me, but I just stuck my tongue out and then pretended I didn't see anything.

Everybody kept on doing whatever assignments were given to them, and I tried my best either to help them or to not get in the way. Finally, when our morning assignment ended, kaichou assembled us in the middle of the room as always, gave a few briefing & evaluation, before decided to dismiss us.

"Wait, Kido-san," kaichou called out to me before I got out of the room. "I want to talk to you in private, if you don't mind," she said, to which I just shrugged and turned back to face her.

We waited until everyone was out of the room, then senpai started. "Kido-san, it's been a week since you started working as our assistant. As per agreement, your work will cease tomorrow," kaichou said me, which reminded me that I'd been working with them for one full week. "I personally want to thank you for helping us so far," she bowed her head slightly.

"Also, if it's alright with you, I want to ask your opinion about all these student council work," she adjusted her glasses and asked me that question.

I immediately thought back about things I'd done those past seven days. Helping in arranging the archive, filling and copying some forms, moving and picking things for the members; sometimes even becoming their personal errand boy, and obviously, all my conversation and bond of friendship that I'd built with all of them.

Chatting with energetic Meguri-san and calm Kusaka-san, those times when Yura-san forced me to arm-wrestle her (she always decimates me) and witnessing Hanakai-san and Nimura fighting over Saji almost every day.

Now I remembered all that, I realized how much I enjoyed my time is so nice and close to each other, like one big family. Hell, even Saji didn't feel as much as obnoxious as he originally was.

"I enjoyed my time here, kaichou," I answered honestly. "Everything was so well-organized, and even if the situation got hectic most of the time, the atmosphere was always cozy and warm. The teamwork was very good, and everyone here could do their job properly," I complimented every good part I could recognize.

Then, I also added while smiling, "you seriously have one excellent team here, kaichou."

Kaichou's upper lip raised slightly, forming small smile I rarely got from her. "Then, have you already considered my offer from yesterday?" she asked, somewhat wistfully. I stopped myself and thought back to my private conversation with her yesterday evening.

Back then, kaichou had actually offered me a place in the student council if I want it. She told me that she had been observing my work for those past few days, and thus deemed me worthy of the position.

She also explained the privileges that I would get if I joined the student council. Everything was very tempting, except for the small detail that had held me back.

"Umm...yeah, actually about that, kaichou, may I have more time to think about it?" I scratched the back of my head and said awkwardly. "The truth is, I still haven't discussed this thing with Yui, since she's busy with her club activities and all." I then put my palms together in front of my face said, "I promise I'll give you my answer ASAP, kaichou. It's just can't be today. I'm sorry."

Kaichou sighed in defeat, as if she'd already predicted this kind of answer from me. "I will expect the answer **tomorrow** , Kido-san," she stated, emphasizing on the word 'tomorrow', with strict tone along with her trademark glare.

I could only raise my hand in defeat. "Yeah, kaichou. Tomorrow, I promise."

"Don't make promise that lightly, Kido-san. What I need is your answer, not your promise," kaichou said, concluding our discussion. I then excuse myself and walked back to my class for the homeroom

... I wonder how late will I be?

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"HEEHHH?! You were scouted by the student council?"

On our way out of the school building, Yui was shell-shocked when I told her about kaichou's offer. She then grabbed my hands and shook them vigorously. "Waahhh...congratulations, Shinji-nii! I can't believe you actually make it!" She cheered loudly for everyone to hear.

I hastily shut her mouth by my hand before we attracted anymore unnecessary attention. "Cut it out sis, for swivel sake! No need to be so exaggerating about this," I scolded her, which proved ineffective since she's still looking at me with sparkling eyes and overflowing passion.

"Buutt~ You know that our student council was very well-known and respected by the entire student body, right? Especially for Shitori Sona-kaichou and Shinra Tsubaki-fuku kaichou. Nee...nee... Do you know, nii? Those two hold the third and fourth place for the most popular girl in the entire school! Isn't that awesome?" My sister explained while fangirling at the same time, resulting in one crazy exposition I couldn't keep up with.

"Moreover, there's rumor going around that every last member of the student council was handpicked by kaichou herself. Apparently kaichou has her own criteria in choosing her members, and those criteria were still secret until now. That's why, the members of student council were considered special, and highly respected too. If you were chosen, that proved you're one of those 'specials' too, Shinji-nii!"

Hearing Yui's ramble, I couldn't help but rehearsing what Meguri-san had told me when I first met her. She had told me that kaichou and fuku kaichou are indeed two of the most popular girls in school. And after sticking with the student council for a week, I did realize that the members were all special, in a sense that all of them have some special unique trait that stood out enough for kaichou to notice them (and trust me, it isn't easy to impress kaichou)

... but that does raise a question about why she chose me, though.

Without any mean to brag, I did feel that what I'd done after a week working with all of them was... well, ordinary, at best. Sure, I sometimes help in doing slightly more important job, but most of the time my job consisted of something lot less important like stapling some module, picking up some archive, moving boxes and other heavy equipment, and even buying drinks for all of them; basically just daily menial lackey jobs that everyone can do. I couldn't see how kaichou would asses my skill by just that.

... I could only hope she didn't just choose me to become their 'official errand boy' from here on. Or even worse, the rumor about her 'secret special criteria' was all false, and she just chose people based on her preference about someone.

Because no matter how much I like student council, I don't want to be picked based on something like favoritism. It wouldn't be fair for the other students.

"...Shinji-nii, you okay? Why the scary face?" Yui tugged my sleeve and looked at me with worried face, which made me realize just then that I was scowling so deeply. I immediately shook my head.

"Well, I guess I will just leave that matter for another day, yeah?" I said while patting her head. "How 'bout you, sis? Got anything good to share? How about your club activities today?" I tried to change the subject.

Yui scowled back at me. "Nii...you don't hesitate because of your part-time job, do you?" She asked, then muttered sadly, "...so it's true that we need the money, after all."

"What?! No, no, you got this wrong, sis!" I hastily said. "It's not because of that. I told you I just applied for the job because I had time to spare, that's all!"

"It's just... I'm afraid that I got recruited because of some favoritism. After all, it wouldn't be fair for the others who genuinely want to join the student council AND have the real skill to do that, if their opportunity is snatched by me just because I got better relationship with the members," I confessed my worry.

Yui responded with her best _are-you-kidding-me_ stare, then sighed loudly in utter disbelief. "Nii, do you seriously think Sona-kaichou is a person who would do something like that?" Yui asked in slightly annoyed tone. "Granted, I don't really know her that much, so it's not my place to judge. But you've been working with kaichou-san for a full week now, right? You should've been able to judge her personality quite well by now."

Her words effectively made me rehearse every last time I'd interacted with kaichou. And yeah, I guess I'd known her well enough to know that she wouldn't fancy any form of favoritism inside her team. She is too noble and strict to use such underhanded way to get what she wants like that. Besides, kaichou loves this school way too much to let any incompetent person mess it up by joining student council.

"Well, of course it's back to your own decision, Shinji-nii. I just hope you wouldn't end up regretting your choice later," my train of thought was interrupted by Yui who was smiling playfully at me. "Now let's hurry up! Ehehe…it's been a long time since we got a chance to go home together. I missed this!" she hugged my arm and grinned widely.

She is right, though. Ever since she joined the art club and I became busy helping student council and working part-time, we'd almost never gone home together again. Today was one rare occasion when Yui didn't have any club activity and kaichou told me not to come and help after school. Even though I still had my work shift at the evening, at least we were able to go home together again after a long time. I wouldn't waste this rare occasion by glooming around.

We were enjoying our chit-chat until somebody got Yui's attention. She stopped and immediately pulled me over to the side, ignoring my cry of protest.

"Ow, oww, OWWW… watch the arm, sis! I got no spare for these!" I rambled in protest when Yui forcibly dragged me by the arm until we reach the nearest bushes. She forced my head down, and together we crouched behind the tallest bush, seemingly hiding from something.

… Shit, bad déjà vu incoming in 3… 2… 1

This felt incredibly similar to the situation when I met Issei for the first time; when we desperately hiding for our lives from a group of angry girls with wooden swords. (There, I said it)

"Can I at least know what we are hiding from?" I half-grumbled while picking twigs and leaves off my hair and shirt. Yui put her forefinger on her mouth and shushed me. Then she silently pointed to one direction. There, I saw lone white-haired girl licking a lollipop and walking into the woods near the dojo.

"Isn't that Toujou? Why're we spying on her?" I asked Yui, which got completely ignored. Soon after Toujou disappeared inside the woods, Yui moved along to her direction; ninja-style. She signaled me to follow her, and I deadpanned at that silly gesture. Half-heartedly, I sighed and started walking to follow her.

The direction Toujou walked into lead us deeper into the woods, until we reached an old-looking building; standing alone in the middle of the woods. However, this building is not by any means unnatural. In fact, I knew this building. This is the old school building, the one we use before the main school building we use now was built.

" _What the hell's Toujou doing in there?"_ I wondered as I approached Yui, who was still hiding behind a tree. I tapped her shoulder and asked, "Oy sis, the hell are we doing here?"

"Waaa! Shinji-nii, sshhh…" Yui, who was still focusing at her target, startled at my sudden approach. She immediately grabbed my arm and pulled me onto her side. Together, we hid for a while, until we made sure Toujou had entered the building.

"Alright, explanation now, sis. Make it quick," I said with my hands crossed over my chest. But instead of looking at me, Yui's full attention was still focused on that rather creepy looking-building.

"Hey, Shinji-nii…" suddenly, Yui turned her face to me. "Let's check what's inside," she said with voice full of excitement and sparkling eyes.

She was just about to dash to the said building when I pulled her collar to stop her. "Ah, ah... not so fast, sis!" I said with slightly annoyed tone. "First thing first, explanation! Why're we stalking Toujou?"

"I want to see Koneko-chan's club activity!" Yui answered with undeniable vigor. "For some reason, her club activity always takes place in this old school building. Moreover, she never talked about them, and whenever I asked, she just straight up ignored me. Isn't that very mysterious? So today, I will... OWW!"

"That's breach of privacy, you idiot!" I scolded my sister after I bonked her on the head. "Just because she refused to tell what her club is doesn't mean it's right to pry into it like this. Let's just go home," I said as I offered her my hand.

"Mouu~ just for this one, nii~ Aren't you even a little bit curious what's inside this mysterious building?" Yui pouted very cutely at me.

Of course I also consider this a little bit weird. I couldn't even think why a club would choose this deserted and isolated building as their clubroom. But truthfully, I don't really care. Besides, I don't want to imagine what Toujou's reaction would be If she knows we're stalking her.

Partly because I don't want to creep out one girl I finally able to befriend; partly because I don't want to get punched by her again. Because trust me on this; for a loli-esque girl with overall slim build, Toujou punches HARD. I still got a bruise on my arm from the last time when I tried to touch her sweet stash.

(Pro Tip: NEVER touch Toujou's sweet stash)

But my biggest reason for not wanting to go in the old school building was definitely this feeling of 'wrongness' that I'd felt since... the first time I saw this place, right after my first day of the school.

... Yeah, yeah, feel free to call me ridiculous, freak, coward, or any of the sort as you like. But I didn't lie when I say I'd felt some...weird, and sometimes even borderline dangerous 'aura' whenever I passed by this place. And because my gut feeling is usually right, I ultimately decided to steer clear of this place, until now.

"No means no, Yui," I strictly scolded my sister. "Let's respect Toujou's privacy. If she didn't want you to know, then you can just wait until the time she wants to tell you," I told her while scratching the back of my head. "Now, let's go home already. I'm hu..."

...

... wait, where'd she go?

"HURRYYY UP, NII~" Yui called over to me while standing in front of the old school building. A second after, I watched her disappearing behind it. Apparently, she'd taken off when I was busy daydreaming. I could only sigh and ended up following her to the place I really didn't want to get involved with.

" _Haaah... so much for missing going home together."_ I grumbled in my mind. I was just about to walk closer and tell her once again how much of a bad idea it was when I heard urgent voices coming this way.

" **Wooyyy... hurry up, guys!"**

" _ ***pant* *pant***_ **At least...** _ ***pant***_ **they're not following us anymore..."**

I didn't have to look at the face to know whose voices were these. I could recognize these voices anywhere, and I wasn't happy about that.

My guess was soon proved right when Matsuda and Motohama frantically running out of the woods and stopped in front of the old school building, then started panting like hell.

" **THE HELL, YOU GUYS! Why'd you left me behind?!"**

And... soon after, the last member of perverted trio, Hyoudou Issei, ran to join them with bruises painted all over his body. Apparently, he's the only one getting beaten up today, because Matsuda and Motohama were actually without scratch.

" _*pant_ _*_ _*pant_ _*_ And I didn't even get any chance to see anything. Haahhh... this is the wo... heh?" Issei's eyes met mine and we both froze.

"Hmm...what is it, Issei? You look like you just se... heh?" Matsuda and Motohama soon followed, and they froze as well.

...

...

... _awkward_

"Sooo... let me guess..." I bravely started the conversation after the most excruciating ten seconds staring contest. "...you guys got involved in a problem again?"

""Humphh... whatever we did is not your business, traitor! Stop acting like you care about us!"" The trio lashed out at me together. Well, obviously I didn't have to be a genius to realize that they hated me with passion now.

"Why can't you all stop doing something idiotic for one goddamn day?" I sighed and muttered in annoyance loud enough for them to barely hear. "You just distanced yourself even further from popularity like this. Just in case you all haven't realized, every female population in this school has already recognized you as a bunch of perverted degenerates, and that's exactly because you gave them a good reason to think so."

Their eyes twitched after hearing my speech, meaning they DID realize that fact and felt slightly hurt when it's rubbed on their faces.

But of course, once stubborn idiots, always stubborn idiots. "SH-SHUT UP! You just said that because you're already popular now, you bastard," Issei shouted at me.

"What're you talking about? What popular?" I asked skeptically.

As I said that, all of them suddenly cried comically and pointed at me simultaneously.

"FIRST! YOU BEFRIENDED THE DAMNABLE HANDSOME PRINCE AND WAS ABLE TO GET HIM TO SHARE HIS HAREM WITH YOU!"

... huh?

"SECOND! YOU CREPT YOUR WAY INTO THE STUDENT COUNCIL AND PROCEED TO MAKE A HAREM OUT OF EVERY BEAUTIFUL FEMALE MEMBER THERE!"

... huuuh?

"THIRD! AND YOUR MOST UNFORGIVABLE SIN!" They simultaneously inhaled a lot of air before shouting, "YOU MANAGED TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THE DUO UNOFFICIAL MASCOTS OF KUOH, TOUJOU KONEKO-CHAN AND SHINOZAKI YUI-CHAN!"

...

... HUUUUUHHH?

"OBJECTION!" I pointed back at them and shouted in over exaggerated manner. "The heck are you all talking about?! It's not like that at all! ARGHH... who the hell spre..."

"Oh Shinji-nii~ Here you are! Come here quick! Let's check... eh?"

Suddenly, Yui appeared out of nowhere and hugged my arm tightly. She's just about to drag me with her when she finally realized I wasn't alone there.

"Umm... Shinji-nii, who are these people?" Yui asked as she held my hand. "Am I... interrupting something?"

I couldn't resist an urge to face-palm myself, as I saw the face of the perverted trio turned white, like someone had just bleached them. This must be the worst timing to introduce Yui to them.

But as now the milk had been spilled (or whatever the appropriate metaphor for this situation is) I guess I didn't have any choice aside from getting on with it.

After some quick introductions, the _pale-faced_ Motohama asked me with a shaky voice. "B—b-bu-but... bo-both of you... ha-have different family names, right? S-so that means..."

"Hey, have some tact, dude," I sighed at him. "But yeah, we're not blood-related siblings," I ended my explanation.

I actually had hoped that knowing Yui is my sister would at least make them correct that last statement. After all, I'm not a lolicon nor a siscon. There's no way I would be interested in seducing a loli like Toujou, let alone my loli little sister.

... Ohh boy, was I wrong.

As soon as I told them that, their body quivered furiously, and their hands balled into a fist. I had a bad feeling about this, so I told Yui to stay back a little. Then, I addressed them all as carefully as possible. "Umm... guys, you all okay?"

"DIE!"

"YOU!"

"BASTARD!"

"Gehh..." I almost yelped as I dodged three incoming fists. Then, I grabbed Yui and took 3-steps back. I sighed and muttered to myself, "yep, here we go again."

"YOU... YOU... _*hic* *hic*_ " Issei sobbed as he tried to speak a coherent sentence. "Not only you betrayed us, you also hid the fact that the newest school mascot, the cute and cheerful Yui-chan is actually your sister! SHAME ON YOU, SHINJI!"

"And not only that, she turns out to be your step-sister! Th-that means... YOU CAN LEGALLY MAKE HER A PART OF YOUR HAREM, YOU LUCKY BASTARD!" Matsuda threw a couple of punches at me, and Motohama lunged to grab me, but of course I could anticipate and dodge all of them.

" _This is starting to get annoying,"_ I grumbled in my heart. I was just thinking about fighting back in order to make them back off when Yui decided to interrupt us.

"Please stop this, senpai!" Yui suddenly stood between me and them with her arms spread open. "I don't know exactly what has happened between all of you, but I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding! Shinji-nii is not a bad person!" Yui pleaded and thus made us forget about our fight for a moment.

The trio looked at each other, before decided to ask away. "Th-then...it's not true that he befriended Kiba Yuuto just to steal a couple of girls from his harem? Or that he's been building his own harem in the student council this whole time? Or that he's extended his vile hands onto even Koneko-chan as well?"

" _Seriously, is there anyone really believing this crap?"_ I muttered in my heart.

"No, of course that's not true~," Yui said with sweet voice, maybe a little too sweet for my liking. **"Isn't that right? Neee~ Shinji-nii-san?"**

...

...

... _*gulp*_

I suddenly felt a wave of terror when Yui finally turned to address me. Her smiling face had become so terrifyingly sweet it honestly got me trembling in my shoes. Her eyebrows twitched furiously, and her glare was so intense it could very well pierce me through.

Also, I'd learned hard way after all those years living with her, that whenever she started to address me formally, it's a good time to IMMEDIATELY abandon my dignity, do _dogeza_ , and start apologizing.

" **Nii-san, you haven't answered me, you know?"** Yui's eerily cute voice resounded in my ears again. **"You didn't do anything that senpai have said just now, right? You didn't help the student council just to get intimate with its members, right? You didn't agree to have a lunch with me every day just to make a move on Koneko-chan, right?"** She asked, still with the same terrifying smile and strangely intense cute voice.

Thank God, I didn't fall on my butt and started asking for mercy. (though I was VERY tempted to) Instead, I stood my ground and managed to answer with confidence.

"O...o-o-o-of... of course, sis! Ha...hahaha, pl-please don't kill... I MEAN, please don't say something stupid like that! Aha...ahaha!"

...

...

... yep, with confidence, folks.

"Hmm... that's what I thought!" Yui voice and expression reverted back from 'deathly cheerful' to 'normal cheerful' as she nodded. Then she addressed the trio once more. "You all hear that, right, senpai? My brother didn't do anything you accused him to."

Apparently, Issei and co. also felt the wave of terror that my sister emitted, that they couldn't help but being stunned as well. They simultaneously blinked and shook their head a few times, before decided to... oh, apparently ask THE MOST RIDICULOUS QUESTION imaginable.

"Umm... does that mean..." Issei started, "...it's also not true that the closest and most suitable girl for him is Yui-chan; to the point that you two could be seen as perfect couple together?"

...

...

...

"Wow, okay, TIME OUT..." I blinked in disbelief and almost scratched my face in frustration. "What the frigging **FUCK** are you exactly talking about, dude?" I snapped at them; BIG TIME. "Do you realize what you just said is incredibly stupid, huh? We're siblings; of course we're close! Being close doesn't mean we're couple, you idiots!" I barked at them. "Yui, help me correct them right now!"

" **We...we're not a couple!** Bu-but if Shinji-nii wants to... I-I guess I could... umm, make an exception..."

"SEE! You heard... huh?" I slipped a little in the middle of my angry rambling after hearing that. In the corner of my eyes, I could see that Yui was blushing so intense, even her ears looked like it'd caught on fire. She's fidgeting and stammering like crazy; and blatantly refused to look me in the eyes.

...

...

... wait, what?

""You... you... _*hic*_ "" The trio sobbed together and let out comical tears. They all looked like they'd just been stabbed in the chest.

"THIS IS NOT OVER YET, YOU LUCKY BASTARD~~" The next moment, they all ran away while crying river. But after a few meters, one guy stopped and turned to me.

"I... _*sniff*_ I WON'T GIVE UP YET! Just you look, Shinji. I will soon get a hot girlfriend myself. And when I do, I will rub it in your face! REMEMBER THAT WELL!" Issei declared at me; still with tears in his eyes and snot on his nose. I didn't get any chance to say anything before he turned again and ran to follow his companions.

...

...

... If there's one thing I'm sure right now, it's that this matter is gonna be a pain and surely will come back and bite me in the ass later.

I let out a deep sigh. "Haaah... this is your fault, sis," I said as I lightly bonked Yui's head. With her face still kinda red, she scratched her hair and stuck her tongue out in response.

"Dammit, I'm even more tired now. Let's just go home," I sighed.

Yui pouted, "eehhh... but I haven't look what's inside yeett~"

"No more argument, sis," I cut her protest. "I've lost my mood to explore anything right now; not that I have any interest to begin with. Let's go, I'm hungry," I nonchalantly said and turned away from our objective for coming here in the first place.

_*CLAPP*_

Suddenly, I heard a sound of window being closed. Curious, I peered over my shoulder to the source of the sound; that being the old school building.

I could see one of the windows in the second floor clattered slightly; sign that it'd just been closed. Behind its glass, I couldn't help but vaguely recognize something that immediately enticed me.

Beautiful crimson-red hair fluttering majestically...

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

...

...

Today; I, Kido Shinji, 16 years old, would like to declare to the whole world that humanity is officially doomed.

If you want to know why...

...

"Heyyoo... Shinji! I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend here, Amano Yuuma-chan."

"Nice to meet you, Shinji-san. I'm Amano Yuuma, Issei-kun's girlfriend. Please treat me well."

...

...

Yeahhh... Issei got a girlfriend.

I repeat: ISSEI GOT A GIRLFRIEND!

DTHFREMBFGOSVDRTASFGRFBINKPWRSQDMVLFRSGIEFZKPNDFYGYAOERFBNAOVEG

...

Ehemm... sorry, kinda lost my composure there.

Anyway, I was still trying to distinguish fantasy from reality when Issei casually hugged my shoulder. "Ckckck... what can I say, eh? Finally, my irresistible charm finds its prey," he bragged with an annoyingly smug grin that made me want to punch him in the face.

And I would've had done that; if my eyes were not constantly auto-focused to his new girlfriend. Because goddamn, is she cute as hell. Her smile is so warm and pleasant I couldn't help but staring at it. Heck, even her voice is naturally sweet and full of compassion.

She possesses warm violet eyes and long, silky black hair, which complement her slender, but buxom figure very nicely.

And I wasn't kidding when I said buxom. Because...wow, even with her clothes on I could still spot her overly nice figure beneath them (especially in the...ehemm, breasts department)

She wore a uniform I'd never seen before, so she must be from another school. But that made everything even more weirder, though. How the hell could this beautiful and overall perfect girl know Issei? And even more bizarre, how could she fall in love with someone like him? What is the universe thinking when it let this matchmaking happen?

"Whoopss... look at the time now. It seems we have to go now. I still have to introduce Yuuma-chan to Matsuda and Motohama later. Let's go, Yuuma-chan," Issei happily said, then held his new girlfriend's hand and walked away together. I could see their happy faces together as Issei introduced his girlfriend to his fellow perverted friends, which effectively left them completely devastated.

Even though I was still a little bit... no, extremely pissed at him, I also secretly hoped that having a girlfriend would tone down his perverted antics by a wide margin. That way, maybe he wouldn't be a problem for too many people anymore.

_*GYUUTTT...*_

"OOWWW... what the hell?!" I jumped and yelped in surprise as my side was suddenly pinched hard. Looking back, I found Yui glaring dagger at me. Apparently, I'd become to immersed in my conversation with Issei and his girlfriend; I forgot she was still standing there.

"Yui, oww... the hell would you pinch me?!" I rubbed my side furiously as I glared back at her. To my protest, Yui just pouted and turned her face away. "You were staring too much..."

"Haaa? No, I didn't! I was just trying to be polite, sis!" I defended myself.

"Yes, you did! Your eyes were glued on her boobs, too!" Yui shouted back

"No, they were not!"

"Yes, they were!"

"No, they were NOT!"

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"...So you stared at her boobs, right? I understand."

"NO, I DID NOT! ARGGHHH... Yui, what did you tell her?"

"Huumphh~ just the truth."

"Truth, my ass! She clearly misunderstood the situation here! Oyy Toujou, stop inching away from me!"

I barked in frustration at the school mascot duo who had completely misunderstood the situation and now was staring at me in contempt.

Seriously, Yui'd harassed me with a bunch of annoying e-mails ever since this morning, just because she thought I was staring at girl's breasts (which I totally WASN'T)

And to make things even worse, she even reported ( _totally-not_ ) my action to her best friend, Toujou Koneko. Now, as we had lunch together on the rooftop, Toujou blatantly refused to get close to me; let alone to talk in proper manner.

... To sum it up; this whole situation sucks.

"Neee~ Koneko-chan, please just tell me what your club actually is already~" Yui changed the subject and pleaded to Toujou with her formidable puppy-dog eyes.

Toujou just kept munching her sweets without even bothering herself to recognize Yui's question; a very clear sign that she didn't want to talk about it at all. Seeing that, Yui sighed in disappointment and dejectedly went back to eating her bread.

That honestly got me quite curious as well. Aside from her questionable clubroom we were about to explore yesterday, Toujou never struck me as someone who would enjoy being in a club. Mostly because she's so reserved and acted cold pretty much most of the time, I could never imagine her meeting up and socializing with friends in a clubroom.

... Then again, she could be acting like that just in front of me. After all, I still couldn't tell her impression of me even after a few times we had lunch together. Her poker face is just a little too good.

"Someday..." suddenly, Toujou opened her mouth and spoke with flat tone. "...You will know about it someday. Just... not now," she added briefly then immediately went back to her sweets.

Yui and I looked at each other for a moment before Yui got overjoyed and did the most usual thing she always does whenever she's overjoyed; hugging people 'till they're blue.

In this case, 'people' means 'Toujou', so I immediately had to stop her before she did something that would make Toujou change her mind.

...

... Something about her wording intrigued me, though.

She'd said, _'you will know about it someday'_ , not _'I will tell you about it someday'_.

… Why would she said that like we would 'inevitably' come across her club sooner or later?

* * *

XXXXXX (Weekend) XXXXXX

* * *

"Waaah~ Look at that, nii! That dress is so beautiful! Kyaaa~ this pajama is so cute too! Uuhhh nii~~ which one do you think is better; this pink sleeveless dress here, or that light blue T-shirt over there? Ehh, but now that I think again, that white cardigan will be a good choice too."

I groaned. "Just pick what you want already, sis; so we can get over this quickly. This place seriously gives me vertigo," I huffed as I helplessly looked around.

Today is Sunday, and we were now shopping in one of the boutiques at the shopping district near our house. I dressed myself in a long beige pants, plain gray shirt under my old-looking black jacket, and lastly, my brown casual shoes.

Yui'd told me that these clothes make me look like an old man, but I still went out using them because it's still by far the most comfortable set of clothes that I have.

She instead chose a sporty-looking get up today; with her light blue sweater, matching shorts, striped blue knee-socks, cool blue sneakers with white stripes, and completed with dark blue baseball cap over her head.

As we walked here, many people actually stared at us, or mostly at her, and whispered between themselves. I really hoped that they're just complementing Yui, but instead I got a feeling that they argued about how incompatible we were when we walked next to each other.

Our first (and supposedly last destination) was supposed to be an art & craft shop, where we can buy Yui's additional equipment for her club. But instead, we're stranded here in the boutique, when Yui decided to take a detour. And honestly, three minutes in here and this place had successfully gotten me dizzy.

First of all, this place was full of women; starting from the customers, even to its clerks. That made this place smelled strongly like women; and for me who had never associated closely with any girl beside my sister, this atmosphere was a little uncomfortable, honestly.

The entire store's wall is painted with blindingly bright pink with many ribbons and other embroideries decorating them; adding more to the girly aspect of the store. Every corner is stuffed with girl's clothes and accessory, which dominated the store with many other bright colors.

And one thing that had been constantly catching my attention was the lingerie section, with a lot of colorful variation of female underwear that I definitely couldn't un-see.

...

...

... What? Don't look at me like that! For your information, I'm a perfectly normal 16-year old boy. There's no way a sight of female underwear on full display wouldn't at least attract me.

"Eehhh... but didn't you already promise me that you will accompany me shopping today?" Yui protested.

I sighed. "Yes, I did. But you said you are shopping for your club's additional equipment! I never promised I would go along with this extra shopping trip."

"Muuu~ Shinji-nii, you're stingy," Yui pouted in displeasure. "Do you forget that you owe me one because I saved you yesterday?"

I gulped and averted my eyes. As much as I hated to admit it, if she didn't interfere yesterday, I seriously couldn't imagine what would happen.

...

... Oh, in case you're wondering what we are talking about, here's some recap.

So, anyone remember about my promise with kaichou two days ago?

[ _"I will expect the answer_ _ **tomorrow**_ _, Kido-san."_ ]

[ _"Yeah, kaichou. Tomorrow, I promise."_ ]

... Yeah, that one.

So, yesterday after school, I ended up visiting student council room again. Of course, I came to give my answer regarding kaichou's offer for me to join student council.

... Well, at least that was the plan.

The truth is, I hadn't got enough time to really think about it. Because two days ago, after that whole fiasco with the perverted trio, I was busy with my part time job in the evening.

And even after I got home, Yui didn't give me any time for myself; by forcing me to listen to her constant rambling about her day, her friends, her club, and pretty much anything she could spew on a moment notice.

That seriously messed up with my resting time; which directly correlated to my thinking prowess.

Added by the great shock of Issei getting a girlfriend yesterday morning, I could safely predict that every decision I made that day would be under prepared and short-sighted.

So in the end, I braced myself and came to the student council room to ask for one additional day to consider my decision. Even though I knew doing that would risk getting me on kaichou's bad side again.

And surprise, surprise; it did.

Gosh, I could still remember how her piercing glare tore me from inside out. The way she just sat silently while occasionally tapping her finger to her desk in annoyance wasn't exactly helping my mental stability either. After all, kaichou hates people who can't be on time as much as she hates liar. (And I was BOTH of it, in this matter)

None of my comrades in the student council stood up to safe me. All of them could just helplessly looked at me in pity and apologetically prayed for my safety. (well, aside from one snarky bastard who seemed enjoying my misery with a wide grin; guess who)

Not that I could blame them, though. Even I would think hundred times over before trying to interrupt kaichou in her rage mode (and that's saying something; coming from me) It would take balls of titanium to actually try and tame the _rage-mode_ kaichou.

... which, my sister SOMEHOW managed to do.

As I was subjected to kaichou's death ray gaze, suddenly my phone rang loudly, which dissipated the gripping silence for a while. I checked my phone and found out it was Yui. So, I immediately excused myself to answer the phone.

Surprisingly, when I did, she immediately asked to talk to kaichou. How the hell she knew I was here and the exact right moment to call, I couldn't imagine. I tried to ask, but she urged me so strongly, I couldn't help but obey. Reluctantly, I gave my phone to kaichou; saying that Yui want to talk to her.

The conversation through the phone call went on for several minutes. For that uncertain several minutes I tried to calm myself, and also to guess what business my sister had with kaichou. Naturally, I hit a dead-end with both of them.

After a while, the phone call ended. Kaichou gave back my phone with a somewhat complicated expression on her face. Then, in one breath, she said...

" _I'll put this matter on hold for now, Kido-san. Just remember I will still demand your answer next Monday. Don't disappoint me."_

...and let me go home just like that.

Yeahh... just imagine how surprised I was. I was so overjoyed, in fact, that I immediately forgot to ask about what she'd said to kaichou to make her let me go. I almost go full _overjoyed-Yui_ mode at home and hugged my sister until she's blue. Of course, she scolded me severely after elbowed my jaw for that excessive action.

As the compensation for saving me, she asked me to accompany her to buy the equipment for her art club. In the spurt of moment, I automatically agreed.

… Look what I'd gotten into now.

"Heyy Nii~" Yui tugged my sleeve slightly. "Hasn't it been so long since we hung out together? Aren't you happy?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Of course I am…" I said. But even when I said that my mind couldn't focus at all.

I honestly was still thinking about the 'invitation to the student council' matter. Kaichou had given me a second deadline for answering it, and that is Monday, which is tomorrow.

I don't know why, but I felt the more I think about it, the harder it gets to determine my answer. Even though I already got a _once-a-lifetime_ offer, I still wanted to think things thoroughly before choosing.

... Sorry if that makes me look like an incompetent person. Maybe it's because I am.

Then, I looked over to Yui. She looked like she genuinely wanted to hang out with me. Seeing her like that, I felt a little tinge of guilt forming in my gut. I really didn't want to see her being unmotivated like this, if I can help it.

I breathed to calm myself. Well, I guess enjoying our weekend together by shopping like this wasn't going to be so bad. It's not like I wanted to stay home all day just to ponder about my problem. I also didn't have any other activity today to begin with.

Finally, I slapped both my cheeks. "Well, I guess you're right sis!" I grinned to her. "There's no use sulking about what have happened. Yoshaa~ if we're already here, might as well have some fun, right?" I enthusiastically said.

Yui immediately cheered up. She smiled brighter than ever. "If that so, you will buy this dress for me right, nii?"

I blinked. "Wait, what? Oh no… no no no. I didn't promise…"

"Nee~ Please, Shinji-nii?"

… Ughhh, here it comes; Yui's sure-kill move; Puppy-dog gaze!

To counter that move, I steeled my resolution. I put my hands on my hips and stood strong. "No, sis. You have your own pocket money. If you wa…"

I stopped my rant when Yui inched even closer to me. Still with her puppy-dog gaze, she purred adorably, "Please~ Shinji-nii-san~"

I took a considerable amount of damage. "Guhhh… bu-but the answer is still…"

"Shinji-nii-san~~?"

"Guahhh, umm… yo-you…"

"Pretty please~?"

"I-I… GAAHHH! FINE, FINEE! I'll buy you one! Just stop looking at me like that! Stop that damnable puppy-dog eyes!"

I averted my eyes in defeat and shouted after I lost all my HP. I ended up accepting her demand without much trouble.

"Yaayy~ thank you Shinji-nii! You really are the best!" She hugged the _devastated_ me in exaggerated manner. When she happily brought the dress that she wanted to the counter, I could only sob silently in despair as a large sum of my money got taken away along with it.

…

…

…

Shit! Damn it all! That move is seriously too OP! Hax! I call haxxx!

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Waaa~ today's really fun! Aren't you enjoying it too, nii?" Yui stretched her body and looked at me happily.

In contrast, I slouched my back dejectedly and sighed in every 3 steps. "Yeah, good for you, sis," I retorted sarcastically. "After all, you're not the one who **paid for everything today!** "

Our trip around the shopping district today proved to be the doom for my wallet, because Yui insisted that the guy had to pay for everything in a 'date'. Starting from the boutique, we also visited restaurant, arcade, accessory shop, and lastly, a crepe vendor. By that point, my wallet was already pretty much empty.

"Seriously, we haven't even bought what we came here for in the first place and it's already this late," I looked worriedly at the sky that had started to turn orange. "We're really wasting our time here, Yui! Let's hurry to the art & craft shop before It's too late," I urged her to walk faster.

We walked together in haste for a few more minutes before Yui abruptly stopped and pointed to one direction. "Shinji-nii, isn't that your friend?"

I followed her finger and found... Issei and his girlfriend, walking together to the nearby park. Both of them looked so happy together as they're walking in silence.

"Hmm...they must be on a date," I concluded. "Well, we better don't disturb them, then. Let's go, Yui!" I called my sister to get going once again. But my steps were halted when I saw a naughty grin plastered on her face.

"Nee... Shinji-nii," she addressed me, still with that same playful grin. "Let's spy on them."

_*BONK*_

"OWW! What was that for?" Yui cried out as she squatted down and rubbed her head in the place that I'd hit. I apparently had used more power than what I'd intended to.

"Why don't start thinking about YOUR OWN urgent matter before you start to think about messing with other people's date, eh?" I sighed in annoyance as I rubbed my knuckle.

"Muu~ aren't you curious about it at all, nii? Isn't he your friend?" Yui asked

"No, I'm not. And I'm not sure; it's still in the _status-quo_ ," I deadpanned. "One thing I'm sure is, I'm not letting you meddle with other people's personal matter before you're done with yours. Now hurry and haul your ass up before I haul it for you."

Yui sulked a little, but ultimately decided not to argue with me any further. She got up and together we walked to the nearest art & craft club. Luckily, the nearest one was located not so far from us, so we managed to buy all her needs; starting from the drawing paper to the new brush; right before the store closed.

We got out of the shop with all our purchase in hands. "Fiuhh... we're done. Finally, we can go home," I stretched my back and my arms as I said that.

"... You don't seem care about that at all aren't you, Shinji-nii?" Yui asked skeptically.

"Oh no, we're not talking about this again, sis," I sighed and told her firmly. "There's a limit about how much can someone meddle with his friend's matter; and we're not even really friend at this point," I explained. "Heck, why do you even care so much about this, anyway?"

Surprisingly, Yui blushed and averted her eyes. "I... I just want to know how to do a proper date..." she answered with small voice.

...

"Pffftt... sorry, what?" I almost burst out laughing at that. "My sister, Yui, is interested in dating? Wow... is this a sign of zombie apocalypse happening anytime soon?" I teased her with a grin on my face.

"... Shinji-nii, you're dummy," she sulked and walked ahead of me.

Seeing that, my grin subsided a little. I guess I was too harsh on her this time. After all, despite of her overall childish demeanor, Yui is also a girl. Of course she's gonna be interested in romance and that sort of things.

I scratched my head and walked faster to follow her. "Okay, okay... I'm sorry for that nasty comment, sis. I promise I won't..."

_*NGGIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG*_

"...Ugghhh, GAKKHHH..." Suddenly, a strange screeching sound blared in my ears. It was so loud I couldn't help but falling on one knee while covering my ears as hard as I could with my hands (but of course, with no avail)

After a while, the sound subsided; leaving me with my vision blurring, hands trembling, teeth clattering, and cold sweat profusely dripping down my entire body.

Now, if you're not me, you may think that sound as normally annoying. It's extremely annoying, but normal nonetheless; like when somebody decided to prank you by scratching a mirror near your face.

But not for me... because I know that what exactly that sound is. The exact same sound that'd haunted me every day back then in Tokyo.

And honestly, the thought of hearing that screeching sound ever again scared the living shit out of me. I could very much say that I was in a state of trance now because of it.

" _Shin..._

...

... _"No..."_ I shuddered. _"Please, no. Please don't say it's happening again."_

" _...nii!"_

... No... No, No, NOO!

"SHINJI-NII!"

"GARRGGHHH!" I instinctively cried out and jumped back when somebody gripped my shoulder and shouted my name. I ungracefully fell on my butt, and as the result, got many weird stares from all the passerby.

I tried to focus my blurry vision to the one point in front of me. And there, I found Yui, trying to reach me with worried expression on her face.

"Ni-Nii?" She addressed me worriedly. "What happened? Why'd you freak out? Uwaahh... your face is very pale too." She then approached me with handkerchief in her hand. There, she patted my face with it to wipe the sweat. Only then I realized how bad my condition was.

I was still panting heavily like I just did a full marathon without a rest. My hands and feet were still trembling greatly to the point I couldn't even stand properly, and judging from Yui's word, I guess my complexion at the time wasn't so great either.

"Let's go to the clinic, nii. There's one not so far from here," she put my arm around her shoulder, then lifted me up with all her strength. But when she managed to stand me straight, I let go of her shoulder.

I then forced a smile. "I... I can go to the clinic alone, sis. I guess I was just too tired of walking around, after all. I will be better in no time," I said as I turned my body away from her.

"Wa-wait, Shinji-nii! I can..."

" **NO!** " I roared a little too loud at her face, causing Yui to stumble backwards. Her expression was a mix of surprise and fear. All the passerby once again looked at me strangely.

Realizing my fault, I tried to say sorry. But I could hardly do that as my heart was still beating too loudly against my ribcage. My hands were so cold I couldn't stop shaking.

As the excruciating silence continue, I calmed myself down and once again plastered the best fake smile I could muster at the moment notice. "Sorry, sis. It's just... ah, you need to quickly go home to prepare dinner, right? I don't want to bother you with this small thing. Besides, I'm starting to get hungry here."

Yui didn't look convinced, but after one long sigh, she decided to let it go. "If you say so..." she said, but quickly added, "...but please call me if something happened, nii. I will pick you up if something goes wrong."

Yui picked up all her groceries and after waving at me, walked away in sad manner. I felt really guilty for just leaving her hanging like that. But if I wasn't just imagining that sound earlier, bringing her with me would be a bigger no-no.

I steeled my resolution, and immediately ran to look for the source of that abominable sound. As usual, my instinct always does the job for me.

... And I froze when I found out where that source was from.

" _Oh Shit..."_ I mentally cursed. _"Shit, shit, SHIT! ISSEI!"_

Ignoring all the danger that might lay ahead, I took off dashing to the park.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

... Three questions right off the bat.

First; What is with my luck today?

I contemplated that as I ran with all of my strength. Seriously, of all days in these almost 3 weeks we're staying in this town, they decided to appear now. And right at the time when I'm going out with Yui, too. What's the odd?

Second; What's with the sky's color?

As soon as I got into the park, the sky suddenly turned darker. And no, not the usual 'nighttime' darker. Instead, somehow the sky had decided to paint itself amethyst with glittering light spread across of it today.

...

... no, I shit you not.

Three; Why's it so dead quiet around here?

I also could immediately sense something wrong was happening here. This place is too dead quiet for a public park in the Sunday evening.

As I was afraid something crazy might had happened, I sped up. The only thing that's rushing in my mind that time was how I can save the people and my friend if they're really getting kidnapped by the monster.

I tapped my back pocket, where I put my deck, as usual. Even if I'd already made my decision to use this once again if push comes to shove, I didn't think it would come _this_ fast. Besides, I'd figured if they really DO come, their first target would be me and Yui, not some random public park.

I just kept formulating a plan until I could see a fountain from in the middle of the park. But even from this far, I could immediately smell something wrong near that place. So, I changed my general plan from directly charging to stealthily moving behind the trees.

When I was close enough, I breathed and counted to 3, then peered at the fountain to find out what's happening.

... There, I had expected a 'monster' thrashing around. I had expected to see Issei or his girlfriend or anyone else getting harassed or even dragged into the 'other side'. I had expected a direct confrontation with one of those 'creatures' again. Hell, I even had expected a meeting with one of 'them' again.

... I certainly didn't expect THIS.

Near the fountain, stood a long and black-haired woman with cruel and outright sadistic expression; wearing the most impractical clothing I've ever seen. I have no way to describe that without mentioning how _lack_ the cloth in that 'clothing' was.

I mean, her top is practically just A PIECE OF LEATHER CLOTH strapped across her breasts! And she also only has a piece of what seems to be an erotic panties on her hip, that's being held around her waist by thin straps.

She wears gloves that covers up to her arms. Her shoulders support a shoulder guards with three large spikes sprouting on the right shoulder guard. And lastly, she has black thigh-high heel boots on her feet. All in all, her clothing looked like a bondage suit.

But as exquis...

... ehemm, as crazy as it was, what attracted my attention the most wasn't that. It's something on her back.

Sprouting out from behind her back, is a pair of jet-black wings. Yes… I shit you not. A huge pair of wings rest on her back like it's very normal. And judging from the way it REALLY flapped, I could tell you that it's not likely to be a fake.

She was smiling sadistically as she licked her lips, with eyes so dark and full of malice I almost winced just by looking at it. She seemed like she was talking to someone, so I stealthily inched closer to see what happened clearly.

… and when I was close enough to see who's she talking to, I almost hurled my guts out.

Laying not so far from her feet, was my friend, Issei. His eyes were wide open as there's a trace of blood running down his mouth. There's a (GRUESOME ALERT!) big, bloody hole in his gut; like he's just gotten stabbed by a very big pair of sharp blade. He's drowning in his own pool of blood as I could only get stunned at the gruesome sight.

… And at the next moment, I instantly lost my cool and forgot how to be stealthy.

"ISSEEIII!" I ran out of my hiding spot and shouted loud enough for that exhibitionist woman to hear me. Her expression got even darker as she turned her face to me.

... Why the hell her face could feel somewhat familiar?

"Haaah? Who the fuck are you?" That winged girl narrowed her eyes and rudely addressed me. Her voice sounded seductively sweet, even when it's brimming with bloodlust. "How could you go past my barrier?"

At the moment, I was too busy cursing myself over this overly stupid action that I didn't catch her saying 'barrier'. The only thing I could process at the moment was an instant regret about blindly showing myself like an idiot, as I still didn't know what the HELL was happening right now.

But I guess there's some time when my emotion got better of me. Rather than regretting it, I better started improvising now if I want to grasp what exactly is going on.

"Issei..." I mustered my courage and growled. "What've you done to him?"

"Oh, him..." She then nonchalantly put her foot on Issei's head. "I killed him."

Aaand... I snapped right then and there.

"You bastard..." I growled full of rage. "GET YOUR FEET OFF HIM, YOU BITCH!" I roared and charged her head-on.

...Probably wasn't the best move.

The winged girl just snorted and looked at me with contempt, before deciding to spread her wings and take off the ground with it. As the result, I lunged at empty air and embarrassingly tumbled across the ground.

"Ohh... now I remember," she snickered at me from above. "You're one of his friend, right? The first one he introduced to me." She snorted, then added with cold voice, "not that I care, though. You all humans look the same to me; garbage."

I managed to process some of her words despite the thick cloud of anger that was looming in my brain right now. I narrowed my eyes to look at her face more clearly. And yeah... despite her completely different facial expression, body posture, and voice, I could actually recognize this girl from her violet eyes, long silky black hair, and her overall voluptuous body.

"No way..." I muttered as the truth hit me like a fully-swung wrecking ball. "You're Amano Yuuma, Issei's girlfriend." I really hoped she would deny me, but she instead smiled sweetly at me the way Amano Yuuma had done before. "Yepp~ you're right, Kido Shinji-kun. Congratulations!"

I couldn't feel more devastated. "Wh-why..." I stuttered in disbelief. "Why would you do this?" I called desperately. Amano Yuu... no, the winged lady instead just nonchalantly shrugged, before her smile returned to the sadistic smile. "I don't have to explain anything to you, human. Especially since you're about to DIE!"

She put her right hand out like she's holding something. All of sudden, bright violet light came out of nowhere and focused inside her palm. In the next moment, she's holding a violet stake-like spear made out of pure light.

...

... I wish I was joking.

"Now that you've seen all of this, I can't let you live..." she stated that so _matter-of-factly_ , like she was about to kill a bug and thus felt nothing out of it. "Such a shame. If you didn't come and interfere with me, you'll actually be able to live longer." She said as she readied her weapon. "If you really want to blame something, just blame your fate for letting you witness this."

... and just like that, she threw the damn spear.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't in a daze. After all I'd ever gone through, I thought I'd seen all of the world's share of weirdness for my whole lifetime. But the thought of getting impaled by a blade made of light by a winged lady in bondage suit certainly never crossed my mind before.

Fear instantly got better of me, as I started to back away in utter panic. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in this case), I slipped on some pebble and immediately fell on my butt. The spear sailed past my head and stabbed the concrete behind me.

_*JLEBB*_

I could only slumped down in fear and disbelief, as my feet totally refused to cooperate with me. Apparently, the sound of the spear impaling the ground right behind me didn't help my trembling feet to get better. My fear consumed me and almost made me do something stupid; such as asking for mercy.

Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, I got scared so badly. I felt like I was back in time; when I received my deck for the first time and got introduced to the strange and deadly whole new world. I felt so lost I didn't know what to do. Everything suddenly became so dark and cold. I could trust no one and forced to depend on myself for survival.

"Hooo~ you actually dodge that," the winged lady descended to approach me. "It can be either blind luck, or you're not as shabby as you look. Kukuku..." She snickered at me in pity. "It's such a shame, but I have to end this right now," she said as she pointed her shining spear to my throat.

In my frightened state, I managed to steal a glance at Issei. His body laid down near the fountain. I still couldn't believe he's dead. I was really tempted to slap myself awake, just to check if I was dreaming or not. Even if he's a pervert, nobody deserved such a fate.

But of course, I knew better. This whole situation itself felt too real to be fake. The spear she held looked so sharp, and the impaled ground behind me looked too real to be ignored. Issei's dead, and nobody could change that fact.

... and that thought boiled my blood to its very core.

"What is that?" the winged lady addressed me with a totally fake cute expression, it made me downright sick. "Aww~~ Are you crying? How cute. Not that I will let you go because of that, though," her voice once again turned cruel as she pressed the spear even closer to my neck.

I honestly didn't realize that I was crying until she pointed it out. Then, I could feel warm tears traced down my cheek. _"How pathetic of me,"_ I muttered inside my heart with a weak bitter smile across my face.

But at the same time, I promised myself that this will be the last tears I shed for Issei's death and for the feeling of helplessness inside my chest today. I had to finish all of this first before I could actually mourn for him.

My chest began to swell up in pure hatred. This bitch actually dares to play with human's life like that. She's just as bad (if not even more so) as 'that guy', who hosted the most dangerous free for all death battle that inevitably led to many innocent people deaths.

... They're both treating human's life like it's nothing!

"Are you... his..." I managed a low growl despite my trembling hands.

" **Haa?** What was that?"

"Are you... one of his minion too?"

"... What are you talking about?" The winged bitch growled in anger. "I'm nobody's minion aside from Azazel-sama! He's the only one who can give me command! Watch your mouth when you're talking to me; Raynare-sama, the great fallen angel of the Grigori; you lowly insect!" She lifted her spear and smiled sadistically.

"DIE, YOU MONGGREELLL!"

_*JLEEBBB...*_

...

...

... _*trickle* *trickle*_

"Heh, is that so?" I managed a weak smile. "Then sorry, **I can't give a SHIT about who you are.** "

"Wh-what?" she couldn't hide her surprise when I, using my bare hands, caught her blade of light.

...

...

... at this point, some of you maybe wanna ask something like, 'How does it feel to touch a spear made of pure light? Can you actually hold it? Is it awesome? Does it glow and produce an epic sound effect like a lightsaber?' Etc, etc.

...

... To answer that question: It's sharp. And pointy. And sure as HECK burns. Personally, I don't recommend you to try this at home; or anywhere else, for that matter.

" **...** **I can't give two SHITS about what you are** ," I channeled all my rage into my power. I ignored the blood that's trickling down my hand and the searing pain that's burning my palm, as I drove the spear further away from my face.

"Im-impossible! How can you... ugghhh..." the bitch struggled to push the spear onto my face again. But with no avail, as somehow my power managed to overwhelm hers. Fear the power of rage!

" **... I can't give three SHITS about who you're working for,** " I glared at her with eyes full of killing intent, that made her winced and inevitably weakening her grip. Using this momentum, I moved my foot and kicked her right in the gut.

"ARRKHH..." She cried out as the kick blew her away, leaving the spear in my hands. Ignoring the terrible cuts and burns in my palm, I sluggishly used the spear as a support to stand up.

"The only thing I need to know is..." I threw the spear aside and slowly walked to Issei's body. There, I fold his hands over his chest and tapped his shoulder, intending to give him my power. I whispered something in front of his face, before turning my attention back to the crow lady.

I wiped my teary eyes, then roared like never before. "NOBODY MESSES WITH MY FRIEND, YOU BASTARD!"

I pulled out my own weapon; my blank deck, from my back pocket. Despite my hands were still smoking and full of blood, I managed to once again roared like a pro. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

The bitch coughed a few times, and then glared at me with an unadulterated anger and distaste. Then, she spread her wings open and flew to the top of the fountain. "Alright, now you really piss me off, you lowly humans!" She bellowed from above.

"I was just thinking to give you a quick and painless death, but now, forget that shit! I will torture you mercilessly, and you better hope you're dead before I'm done with you!"

She put both her hands into the air and projected two of those spears again. "PREPARE YOURSELF!" She screamed maniacally and threw the spears at me.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

... Just to be clear, I still got absolutely no clue what the heck was going on in here.

I mean, AS IF my life wasn't crazy enough before, one day a lady with black wings just decided to dive-bomb into it and killed my friend. Everything that's happening seems too crazy for me to keep up with (and that's rich; coming from me)

Even things that lady said just now didn't make any sense. Something about Azazel, that seems to be her boss... Grigori... and the facts she called herself 'fallen angel', which kinda make sense since she kept calling me 'lowly humans', as if she's not one herself.

... Then again, last time I check, humans don't have wings, don't go into a public place with a stripper outfit (opinion may vary), and MOST DEFINITELY don't produce a spear out of thin air.

But as much as I wanted to ask for timeout and a couple of minutes to sit down and let those crazy facts sink in, of course she's not gonna give me that privilege. The most I could do right now was finding a way to survive this onslaught; hopefully in one piece. If that's succeeded, THEN I could get into some Q&A session.

And to achieve that, I had to calm myself, formulate a plan, and look for the best chance to beat my opponent.

...

...

... which is a kinda impossible task to do when the said opponent just kept spamming her one impossibly OP skill at you.

"AHAHAHA~~ DANCE! DANCE FOR ME, LITTLE HUMANS!" She screamed sadistically at me as she threw a couple more sharp blades.

_*JLEBB* *JLEBB* *TRAANGGG*_

This stripper maniac had been going on her rampage like this for about five minutes, which kinda felt like 5 years for me. She just kept hurling those shiny blades blindly in my vicinity; impaling benches and trees, destroying street lamps and vending machines, and cutting my arms and legs. Heck, some even close enough to almost stab me completely.

Fortunately, it seemed that my dodging skill hadn't been rusty yet. So, I could barely survive this five-minutes brutal onslaught without even one serious or fatal injury.

... But that didn't exactly mean the situation was leaning to my side, though.

"SHIT, SHIT... ARGGHHH!" I tried to dodge another spear hurled my way, but unfortunately this time I dodged a few seconds slower, and the spear successfully grazed my left leg. I tumbled across the pavement and slid a few meters away. But I couldn't even stop to groan at my scraped leg, 'cause when I peered at my assailant, she's already projecting another spear in her hand.

Seeing that, I sucked up my pain and quickly limped to a tree, then ducked behind it. I groaned in pain and quickly checked my bleeding wound. Unfortunately, only three seconds after catching my breaths...

_*JLEBB*_

"Whoaa!" I yelped as the tree behind me got pierced through by a glowing spear, and almost hit my head. I clicked my tongue and immediately had to leap aside to avoid one more incoming spear that impaled through the same tree and almost stab me in the head as well.

"Arrgghhh... shit, everything's hurt..." I groaned as I shook my head lightly to get rid of the extreme nausea. The oxygen in my lungs was almost depleted, 'cause I couldn't even stop to catch my breath, like at all. Apparently, this overgrown crow's spear-projecting power doesn't come with a fair set of cooldown or limitation whatsoever.

... Now this... is what I'd call hax.

As a result, I'd been running, ducking, jumping, and sliding continuously without any chance to rest for this full 5 minutes. I'd been panting heavily while clutching my chest ever since. On the contrary, the crow lady didn't seem to be tired or weary at all. She's instead looked so ecstatic as she's looking down on me.

"AHAHAHA~ I wonder where'd your vigor from back then disappear to eh, you puny mortal?" She mocked me with condescending stare, while still leisurely hovering above. "Come on~ didn't you just brag about how you will make me pay? At least make this a challenge, would you?"

...

... As you've seen, the situation didn't go as smooth as I'd planned.

My plan itself was supposed to be simple. First, I'd lure her to the fountain, then after we're close enough, I'd charge at her while dodging some of her light spears. Then, I will tackle her down and thus made her fall into the fountain's pond. Once we're both in the water, I can use it as a gate to drag her into 'that world'.

I'd hoped when I'm in there, maybe I would get, at least, a slight 'home territory' advantage over her.

In theory: Decent Idea.

In practice: ...This situation.

Apparently, my adrenaline rush had made me forget to calculate the other small details surrounding that plan. As such, I could conclude that my failure was caused by three fatal miscalculations.

My condition. Her condition. The surroundings.

Despite the whole cool and uplifting 'I'll make you pay for killing my friend' speech I just spewed back then, it turned out just ignoring my scratches and the burn in my hand proved to be quite impossible. Plus, if you're being bombarded by shining, huge-ass spears like this, chances are you're not running towards your assailant without, at least, one of those things impaling you through the gut.

In fact, as soon as my adrenaline rush ran out, the rational part of my instinct immediately screamed at me to GTFO. My plan was instantly forgotten. Thus, I'd been running around the park without any clear purpose aside from staying alive.

... You may call me coward if you want. I just want to point out that running while dodging fast projectile coming your way at the same time is not something normal human without proper training and full safety measurement equipment should do; unless you're in Hollywood.

Even worse, my cuts and scratches were gradually increasing as the time goes on. My arms, legs, and even my face were fully painted with cuts and bruises all over. Some came from those damnable spears, and some others came from unfortunate series of tripping down, sliding across the concrete, and even the time when one tree's toppled over and almost crushed me flat. The cuts and blister on my palms from handling that spear without safety glove even looked so bad I wouldn't be surprised if my fingers started rotting off one by one soon enough.

(Pro tip: NEVER touch 1000-degrees knife with your BARE hands)

And EVEN IF my body was okay and in its peak condition, I also forgot to calculate that SHE CAN FLY! (Yes, how STUPID can you be to forget something like that, Shinji!) As long as she's still hovering 5 meters above me, forget tackling her into the water, I couldn't even reach her unless I 'transformed'.

... 'And why didn't you transform then, Shinji-kun?' I heard some of you asking.

Well, aside from the fact that I need a reflective surface to transform myself (such as water), that question brings us to the last miscalculations; the surroundings. You see, I would have no problem just charging into the fountain and plunged myself into the water to transform.

Sure, I might become a beehive if I wasn't careful enough, but even if I was already weakened, as long as it's not a fatal injury, I thought I was still agile enough to dodge every single spear that was thrown my way. The fact that I could still standing until now without any hole or fatal injury anywhere on my body should've been clear enough proof for that.

The only thing that's preventing me from doing just that was in fact, Issei.

Though that winged lady (or Raynare, as she'd told me) had said that Issei's already dead, I still refused to believe it just yet. Because earlier, when I touch his hands, I could feel it's still slightly warm. Feel free to call me naive at this point. Heck, even I realized it's nearly impossible for people to actually survive an impalement THAT BIG through the gut for such a long time. But, I didn't want to lose hope just yet.

And even if he really was dead, then I at least wanted to keep his corpse in one piece and properly delivered it with a proper funeral. After all, his parents also need to at least see their son for the last time.

And thus, I'd been trying my best to avoid running around near the fountain, as I was afraid his body would get caught in Raynare's spearing frenzy. And it's not like I could just ask Raynare nicely for a timeout while I moved his body somewhere else. Hell, that would just worsen the situation, if anything!

... That's why I'm in this loop of BS right now.

"Aww~ Look at you struggling pointlessly, puny mortal," Raynare taunted from above. "It's almost cute, honestly. It's too bad I can't bring you home with me. You'll make a good slave and toy. AHAHAHA~" She laughed maniacally.

"Haha... _*cough* *cough*_ no thanks. Not interested in that kind of play," I struggled to keep standing straight while maintaining my weak smile. At this point, I couldn't be seen in distress or panic, or else she would use that opportunity to press me down even further.

I was still panting heavily and trying to formulate a plan to beat her at the same time, when one realization hit me. Raynare stated she's not 'his' minion, but is that also mean she doesn't know about him at all? If that's true...

"Hooy, Raynare..." I called her despite my lungs were still scarce of oxygen.

" **HAAA... don't use my name that easily, mongrel! You'll sully it with your filthy mouth!"**

"Do you know someone named Shinozaki Shirou?"

"Tch... why would I remember a name of a filthy human? And DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU SHITTY RAT!"

" _... And by extension, she must be clueless about my power too,"_ I thought, small smile starting to form on my face. _"Great, I can use this!"_

" **I said..."** Raynare let out a low, scary growl. **"DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU ASSHOLE!"**

She formed two light spears and chucked them at me. Fortunately, this time I was ready as I already got a nice plan.

Even if my feet were still slightly hurt, I managed to dodge her spears by rolling forward. I then got up hastily. Ignoring her scream, I proceeded to run to the fountain.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN?" She shouted as she flew to follow me. "FOOLISH HUMAN!"

" _I have to timing this right,"_ I thought to myself as I desperately run from her. _"Not too close to the fountain, but not too far either."_

Raynare prepared another spear. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" and threw it at me.

" _Aaannd... now!"_ I deliberately dodged the spear just by small margin, and at the same time, I used every last bit of my power to jump into the pond.

"AARRGGHHH!" I faked a pained cry as I propelled myself straight into the water. I hoped by doing it this way, it would make my intention for going straight into the fountain a little less obvious. Plus, I hoped by pretending to be exhausted after being plunged into the water, Raynare'd stop her spearing frenzy for a while.

I gasped for air as I pulled my face out of the water. I peered at Issei and found that his body was still safe in the place we left him. I sighed in relief and leaned back to the fountain pedestal.

" _Nice, phase one done. On with the phase two,"_ I thought in the middle of my heavy breaths.

"Finally you're stop moving, insolent rat," Raynare hovered a few meters in front of me with a winning smirk on her face. "Unfortunately, I don't have anymore time to spend with you," she said as she hoisted her spear. "Any last word?"

...

"Pfftt... puh-PUHAHAHAHA" Suddeny, I let out an evil-maniac kinda laugh that made her narrowed her eyes. "What are you laughing about, mongrel? Have you gone insane?"

"Oh no... no, not quite," I squeezed out my best challenging smile as I stared back at her. "It's just... are you that scared of me?"

" **What?"** She narrowed her eyes even deeper and let out a feral growl. **"Me, a great fallen angel, afraid of you, a little human?"**

"Well, I mean... look at you, keep flying away and chucking things at me from a safe distance," I chuckled. "If you ask me, it looks like you're afraid of me, don't you think?"

" **You dare..."**

"Oh, and also... I can't stress enough how much you SUCK at chucking those spears of yours," I smiled teasingly to provoke her even further. "Seriously, you have one heck of OP hacking bullshit power, and you still can't even kill one, good old 'lowly human' fast enough. Heh, talk about incompetence," I made an air quote and snorted.

Raynare fumed and her eyes were bloodshot crazy. She snarled ferociously, and her body jerked like she's ready to pounce at me and bite my neck off anytime. It would take only one more push to finally make her snap.

"Wow, at this rate, I can't help but to pity this Azazel guy for having you... WHOOAAA!"

I threw my body aside as Raynare flew in with her spear ready. She pierced the fountain instead of my chest, making all the water spewed everywhere. With absolute bloodlust, she then grabbed me from the water and threw me back to the fountain's pedestal.

" **SHUT. UP. YOU. FILTHY. HUMAN!"** She screamed in frenzy as she proceeded to kick me in the chest repeatedly. I didn't do anything aside from putting my hand in front of my chest to mildly defend myself.

When she's done kicking me, she panted heavily and once again pointed her spear onto my face. Her snarl turned into one crazy smile. "Ha... haha... HAHAHAHA! I KNEW IT! I KNEW I SHOULD'VE KILLED YOU FASTER," she rambled like a madman. "YOU'RE JUST ONE PESKY BRAT. DON'T YOU DARE CALL AZAZEL-SAMA'S NAME SO LIGHTLY LIKE THAT!"

Even if I was hurt, I couldn't help but smiling meaningfully. "Hey, Raynare..."

Her scowl went even darker. **"That's why, I said..."**

"Thanks for cooperating."

Her scowl subsided a little. "What do you..."

Then, I did the crazy thing. In one swift move, I grabbed Raynare's spear despite the immediate sizzling sound of my hands burning, and yanked it down along with all my body weight. Caught off guard, I managed to drag her into the water beneath her. Then, ignoring the new excruciating pain searing in my palm, I pulled my deck out of my pocket.

" _*blub* *blub*_ PUHAAA... YOU BASTARD!" Raynare quickly recovered as she cried out angrily.

I then proceeded to yell out the magic word.

"HENSHIN"

_*crack... cracckk... PRAANNGGG*_

... After that, our reality got shattered like a glass.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

" _ **Those who don't fight won't survive."**_

... I'm tired of hearing that word.

" _ **You will fight until there's only one left standing."**_

... I still can't accept your way of thinking, even until now.

" _ **Then, for what reason do you fight?"**_

...

... To protect... the innocents (?)

" _ **... Then, be stronger, Ryuki! Strong enough to protect those you want to protect!"**_

...

...

"GAHAHH... _*pant* *pant*_ " I startled up, then immediately gasped for air. After my breath was in order, I proceeded to analyze my surrounding.

"Is this re... OUCHH! Shit, my head..." I suddenly felt a stinging pain in my head, but when I was just about to clutch it, I got a glimpse of my hands and stopped.

... Or should I say, my _armored_ hands.

Yeah, now my hands were encased in tight gray material resembling spandex. There's a piece of black armor on the back of both my hands, and the right forearm also supported a matching black arm guard. On the left arm however, my forearm was topped with a plain and rather bulky silver gauntlet.

I shook my head to get rid of the nausea, then tried to stand up. To my surprise (or not), I could stand up much easier now than I could a few minutes ago; like my body just got magically recovered. Hell, now that I think about it, my body also got lighter and my vision became clearer. I immediately felt I could bench press hundred kilograms all at once, throw a stronger punch, run faster, and jump higher than I ever could. All in all, I felt awesome! Like, 'someone-had-just-pumped-me-up-full-with-steroid-juice' kinda awesome!

I checked my reflection in the water, and I found out that whole my body was also encased in the gray tight spandex. My upper arms support some arm guard-like armor. There are shin guards on both of my feet, and my torso and back is protected by armor. The torso side of the armor is a thick and sturdy breastplate.

But the main focus of this armor was obviously the belt and the helmet. On my waist, there's a big belt that held my blank deck in place. My full-face helmet always reminds me of European knight in medieval times; mostly silver in color with its dimly glowing red eyes under the striped eye guard; and striped mouth guard protecting my lower face. There's one small red gem embedded on a silver lining on top of the helmet.

But despite the absolute coolness of my get-up, I couldn't help but I sighed in my heart, as I wasn't really sure whether to freak out or be thankful for this development. But if I could be sure of something right now, it was...

" _Yep, I'm back alright,"_ I smiled bitterly under my helmet, realizing that I just deliberately broke my lifetime promise to Yui. I hope she's not gonna find out about this anytime soon.

"Urghh..." I heard someone grunted from beneath me. I looked downward and found Raynare was kneeling and clutching her head from nausea. "... What the fuck is happening?"

I snickered as I was looking at her. I had to admit, it felt kinda refreshing to look down on her for once.

"Hey Raynare... what's wrong? Got a headache?" I said in completely mocking tone. Her eyes refocused on me, and as soon as they did, Raynare startled and flew back a few meters away.

"Wh-what the? What is that armor?" She started projecting her spear again and putting up her guard at the same time. "Is that some kind of sacred gear? No, there's no way. I was informed that kid is the only human possessing Sacred Gear in this town. Besides, how can I not feel anything from you since the first time you show up?" She rambled in frustration.

"Hah, glad you're ask... Wait, sacred what?" I was about to start my exposition about this cool armor until one of her word caught my attention. "You know about this armor?"

"Chee... I have no time for this nonsense anymore. I have to quickly report this to Azazel-sama," Raynare clicked her tongue and starting to fly back even further. "You should be grateful, kid! While I want to play with that sacred gear of yours a little longer, I run out of time today! But remember, I will hunt you down and kill you by my own hand someday!"

My brain started putting every pieces together as she rambled. "...When You said that kid, it means Issei, isn't it? Is that why you killed him? Because of this 'Sacred something' you think he possessed?"

Fortunately, Raynare, being the generic villain character that she was, didn't waste any time going into a generic villain plan-revelation monologue. "Hah, so what if it's true? That kid and his Sacred Gear has potential to ruin our master plan, that's why I killed him. All for the glory of Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama."

"Alright, I think I heard enough," I growled menacingly. "Now, I think I'm gonna drag you down in chain first before I ask further question."

"Hah, drag me down? How are you gonna do it, kid?" Raynare flashed a winning smirk. "You can't even reach me in this distance. What hope do you have to stop me?"

I responded her smirk with my own grin; although I'm not sure if she got it because I was wearing a helmet. "How am I gonna do it, huh? Well, you might want to take a closer look around you."

Her smirk soon turned into big question mark as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?"

I shrugged lightly and gestured to our surrounding. "...See for yourself."

Reluctantly, she flew higher and took a good look of our surrounding. As she observed, her expression gradually turned from wonder to shock.

"Wh-what is this..." She stuttered with eyes wide open. "Where's the barrier I set up before? Also, that brat I killed before... he's gone too." Raynare face turned pale. "And... and why's everything..."

"Turned the other way around?" I finished her question. "Well, that's what you get if you see the world from behind a mirror, after all." I nonchalantly said as if that's not a big deal.

Fortunately, this world still works the same way as it does the last time I entered it, Raynare should've had seen the world the way people saw their surrounding through a mirror; everything is inverted. Also, since she's the only one I dragged into the reflective surface of the water, it's obvious that Issei wouldn't be here. He's still sleeping (I hope), safe and sound back in our dimension.

Also if what she said is right, it seemed her mumbo-jumbo 'barrier' that she put in the real world didn't get projected into this side as well. Though I realized the 'barrier' she mentioned here most likely was related to the strange sky's color in the real world, because in here the sky was normal orange instead of deep purple. I wasn't sure what it means, but I'd make sure to find out about this after I'm done with her.

" **Yo-youu...** " Raynare turned to me and grudgingly stared at my armored face. "What are you exactly? And what is that sacred gear? What have you done?"

I spread my arm in exaggerated manner. "I'd like to call myself Kamen Rider Ryuki. I still don't know what is that sacred-something you've been talking about. I trapped you inside the Mirror World; which means no matter how far you fly away from me, you won't be able to run back to your Azazel-sama or whatever." I stopped to breath. "Any more question?"

Her face contorted in rage, as she showed even more bloodlust. " **Trap me? You dare to...** "

"Spare me your nag, you exhibitionist bastard," I challenged her words as I glared back at her. "I trapped you in my domain. Deal with it." I said triumphantly.

"If you want to get out so badly, why don't you tell me about 'what in the hell are you exactly' and 'what in the hell is going on' in details? Oh, that, and also about this sacred-thingy you've been linking with this armor of mine. Plus, I'll still make you pay for killing Issei, you bastard!"

" **Don't get too cocky just because you managed to do something right just for once, you shitty brat!** " Raynare roared at me. "Just you look, I will cut you to pieces and then sew you back together, then cut you to pieces again," she smirked sadistically. "I'd love to see your expression when I gut your innards out!"

"Ohh~ I can't wait to show Azazel-sama that I manage to bring him one more unusual sacred gear for his research. He will be so delighted~" She blushed a shade of pink and her words were so full of admiration. Unfortunately, my feeling after seeing her like that was just a pure disgust.

"Heh, let's see about that, you overgrown crow!" I pumped my fist and muttered "Yoshaa~" Then, I took my stance. "Let's do this!"

We both let out our war cry and charged.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

I pulled a card with the picture of a sword out of my deck, and at the same time, Raynare lunged at me with her spear ready, screaming "DIEEE!"

Naturally, I rolled out of the way to avoid her assault. Then, I slid my gauntlet in the left arm down, and inserted the card into it.

_*Psyuuu*_ **[SWORD VENT]**

"You can't win... GAHH!" Raynare yelped in surprise as a sword came down from the sky and slightly grazed her wings. The said sword landed perfectly and embedded itself into the ground in front of me.

" _Heh, nice!"_ I couldn't hold my grin when I pulled the sword out of the ground. It's still the same sword as the last time I used it a long time ago; a straight, double-edged sword with black hilt and red gem embedded on the base of the blade.

"Chee... using strange summoning magic like that. Don't get too cocky just because you get a weapon, brat!" Raynare charged viciously again.

This time, I didn't avoid her assault. Instead, I stood my ground and block her spear head-on with my sword. I literally stopped her in mid-flight and thus grounded her as well.

_*TRANGG* *TRANGG* *TRUANGG*_

Her spear and my sword clashed a few more times before Raynare decided to draw back. Apparently, even though she could chuck those spears of her very well, Raynare wasn't really the best at wielding it in close combat. Hence, I could stand my ground and even overwhelm her pretty easily.

She panted heavily, but I surprisingly wasn't even tired at all. I'm honestly quite surprised my blank form could handle the battle this well.

"You bastard..." Raynare spoke in the middle of her heavy breathing. "How can you recover this much in such small amount of time? You were literally in half-dead state just a moment ago."

"I don't have to explain anything to you, shitty crow," I smirked while reciting the exact same word she'd said to me. "The only thing you have to know is you can't run or win against me anymore. Why don't you just surrender and start explaining already. You'll spare much of our time that way!" I pointed my sword to her.

"Me, surrender? HAAH... in your dream, human! Why don't YOU surrender and release me from this... this wretched place? If you do that, maybe I can consider giving you a quick and painless death!" Raynare didn't yield, and instead brandishing her weapon with wicked grin on her face.

I sighed as I pulled one more card from my deck; the one with a picture of shield in it. "Haaa... suit yourself, then. Just remember I've warned you."

 _*Psyuuu*_ **[GUARD VENT]**

I inserted that card into my gauntlet and held my left hand up. Soon enough, a plain, round gray shield came down from the sky and latched itself straight onto my arm. I took my stance with confidence. "Come on, then! Let's see how well you can fight!"

Raynare spread her wings and shot straight up into the sky. Then, she began assaulting me continuously with her shining spears again. But different from the last time, now I'm more than ready for her onslaught.

I easily blocked and parried every single spear that came my way to the sides. I stood my ground very well, almost untouchable amidst the load of spears that had been constantly rained onto me. I almost grinned uncontrollably under my helmet. I felt so unstoppable right now!

After minutes of constant assault, Raynare stopped and panted heavily in the midair. I smirked under my helmet after seeing that. "What's wrong, crow? Tired? Feeling ready to surrender now?" I used this opportunity to taunt her. "Hurry up! You don't get all day to think about it!"

She could only pant heavily as she glared at me full of hatred. I supposed she's almost at her 'limit' now. But as I realized she didn't have any intention to yield to me, I intended to give her one final push.

" _*sigh*_ If you really want to play it that way, suit yourself," I scratched my head and sighed. "I guess it's my turn to attack, then."

After declaring that, I lowered my posture, then charged toward her with all my might. Raynare gasped in shock as my speed boost caught her off guard.

"HAAA!" I jumped as strong as I could and managed to reach her thanks to my armor's power boost. I swung my sword diagonally onto her body.

"Kuuhh..." Raynare didn't even have a time to project her spear. Instead, she dodged my strike by floating to the side. After my aerial strike failed, she held her hand out to project another spear.

... But this time, nothing came out.

I could identify her shell-shocked face even when I was helplessly falling in midair. Using that opportunity, I immediately aimed and hurled my round shield to her; Captain America's style.

_*DRAANGGG*_

"AARRGHHH!" Raynare shrieked in pain as my shield hit her right wing with deadly accuracy. She fell straight to the ground with a loud _*THUD*_ at the same time I safely landed on my feet.

Then I approached her.

"GAAHHH! SHIT, MY WING! MY WINNGGG!" She hollered in pain, clutching her seemingly broken wing. Usually, when I see somebody in pain like this, I will immediately be sympathetic with him/her, or at least feel pity.

... But this time, I felt nothing of sort.

"You lose," I declared with my sword pointed at her. "Now tell me everything."

"Yo-you bastard..." Raynare growled menacingly. "I'll NEVER YIELD..."

...

... Again, nothing came out.

"Wh-what?" Her angry expression was washed out as she thrust out her hand for nothing. "Why can't I use my power? What's happening here?!" She desperately trying to project her spear with no avail. Her expression gradually changed from surprised to afraid.

I narrowed my eyes. _"Is it the mirror world getting her? Now that I think about it, she doesn't wear a rider armor, but her body hasn't shown any sign of being 'disintegrated' yet, even after being here for such a long time."_ I wondered. _"Is this mean mirror world disintegrating her... power first, instead of her body?"_

"... That's why I said you didn't have much time to decide," I said in a cold tone. "Mirror World is a dangerous place for hum... for non-rider like you. It's taken your power now. Soon enough, it'll get your body too," I half-bluffed with menacing voice.

Seeing Raynare's pale face, I could tell that my bluff worked. So, I proceeded. "In fact, I could just leave you rotting to die here. The only reason I haven't done that YET, is because I need you to explain WHY did you kill Issei," I threatened her. "So, start talking before..."

***RROOOAAARRRR***

_*BOOM* *BOOM*_

Both of us stunned when suddenly we heard a very defeaning roar coming from afar. I instinctively turned my face to the source of the voice and found out that the sound came from outside the park.

And judging from the loud stomping sound that's gradually becoming bigger and bigger, it seemed like this thing was coming to us; fast.

" _Wait, is that a monster?"_ I gulped in the middle of my thought. _"Shit, judging from the voice, it seems to be a big one. There's no way my blank form can handle something like that. We have to get out of here!"_

"Oy, Raynare! Quick, we got... wait, where'd she go?"

When I found out that Raynare wasn't kneeling in front of me anymore, I automatically looked around for her. I soon found her, desperately running away from me; or maybe from that frightening sound.

"WOYY, STUPID! DON'T JUST RUN OFF ON YOUR OWN!" I called for her from my place. But as soon as I wanted to go after her...

_*NGUUNNGGG… ZAP*_

Suddenly, one creature dived from above and snatched Raynare with incredible speed. It's so fast, I couldn't even see it coming.

"WAAA… what are you doing?! LET ME DOWNN!" Raynare could only screamed and flailed helplessly as the creature took her away. Now her power to create endless amount of spear had gone and her wing had broken, I guess she's not that much different from other humans, after all.

I blinked confusedly before the loud stomping sound finally snapped me awake. "What the... is that Hydragoon?" I identified the monster from its oversized blue dragonfly-like body and wings. "Two monsters from different order in one place and at the same time? What the heck is that Shinozaki Shirou thinking?" I furiously scratched my helmet as I grumbled.

_*BOOM* *BOOM*_

"Arrghhh… shit. I got no time for this," I was about to chase the big dragonfly when the boom sound got even closer. So much closer, in fact, that I managed to catch a glimpse of the monster from behind the trees.

And I don't like what I was seeing.

Just from the oddly misshapen horn that was somehow sticking out over the thickness of the trees here, I could tell that this monster was HUGE. Its step now was strong enough to cause a small-scale earthquake. I also didn't like my chance when I heard a low growl that somehow resemble the sound of three monster trucks roaring their engine at the same time.

...

Finally, after some rather hurried consideration, I decided to just abandon the chasing and get back to my portal; that being the water fountain.

"... Don't hate me for this, Raynare." I muttered bitterly before jumping into the water.

_*craackk... PRAANGGG*_

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

" _*blub* *blub*_ PUHAAA... Wooh, that was intense!" I let out a refreshed shout, because I was successfully transported back into the real world. In flash, I got out of the water, then take my deck and pointed it at the water.

"SEAL!" I yelled as the water seemed to glow for a second, before the glow subsided and back to its normal color.

After that , I tiredly sat in front of the fountain, then shook my head to get rid of the nausea.

But as soon as my nausea wore off, the realization kicked me harder than any light spear to the face.

 _"My God... is that really just happened?"_ I let out an exasperated sigh as I scratched my hair furiously. I mean, who wouldn't do that; when they'd just fought a crow-human hybrid cladded in bondage suit who's killing their friend with a spear made of pure light.

... God, even that sentence sounds incredibly wrong on so many level.

" _In the end, I got no explanation about her... or whatever her objective was...,"_ I clicked my tongue bitterly as I reminisced about what had happened in the last few hours.

... Or rather, made sure whether everything that had happened; REALLY HAPPENED.

"Oww! Ow, oww, OWW!" I winced and cried out when I deliberately pinched my cheek and my arms with all my might a few times, just to make sure I wasn't having a very wild dream.

And judging from the pain, I wasn't.

I covered my eyes with my hand and sighed deeply. Now I got a time to properly sit down and let all the crazy facts sink in, I immediately regretted doing it. I felt utterly lost and devastated, unable to comprehend which is reality and which is fantasy anymore.

The exact same feeling I got when I discovered the Mirror World back then.

I mentally started to list every new and weird vocabulary I'd heard today. _"Barrier, Sacred Gear, Magic, Fallen Angel, Grigori... the list goes on and on,"_ I sighed with eyes closed. I swear if I don't get an answer about what these things are soon, my head's gonna burst.

I literally didn't move for about three minutes or so, just sat down with my hand covering my eyes, trying to make sure how to properly deal with all these jumbled feelings in my mind.

... Which directly translates to; deciding whether to cry out loud, giggle uncontrollably like a lunatic, drown myself in the fountain, hijack a bus to take me to Alaska, or go home and shut myself in my room for the rest of my life.

Which were some very reasonable actions to take in these kinds of unreasonable situation.

" _Alright, stop. Stop thinking like this, Kido Shinji!"_ I mentally slapped myself. Then, I took a deep breath and slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the evening sky. Yeah, the _normal_ , orange-colored evening sky. Somehow, the sight calmed me down.

" _Oh yeah, in this kind of situation, it always helps to list every single normal thing that we can think of,"_ I remembered the exact way I prevented myself from having a mental breakdown back then.

Thus, I tried to think a bunch of normal stuff in my life. My school, my house, Yui, our chats, her home-cooked dinner, our shopping trip this afternoon, also my friends in the school; everyone from the student council, Kiba, Toujou and her obsession to sweets, and last but not least, the perverted... trio...

"Oh shit," I suddenly remembered. And this time, I couldn't help my tears because of it. "ISSEI!" I shot back up and ran to see him. I was expecting him still laying down at the same place I left him.

... And as if the craziness level wasn't high enough, I immediately found two more headache inducing problem in front of me.

"Wh-what? No way..." I gasped in shock when I found the park had been completely fixed and as good as new; without broken fences, toppled over trees, crushed benches, and exploded vending machines. Heck, now when I looked back, I just realized that the fountain had also been restored to its previous good state.

I immediately felt this ominous feeling swelling in my chest, like some 'supernatural' power had worked here to bend the reality and fix all of this. And judging from the paranormal activity that I just experienced, that's really possible.

But the most surprising thing was the fact that Issei had gone from his previous place.

I almost desperately called for him, when I remembered there's no way he could hear me in his condition. Then again, it's also impossible for him to get up and walk away, so I immediately stopped to take a breath and think after cooling down first.

"Is it possible that someone'd moved his body?" I muttered to myself. "Yeah, that's the most logical answer for this. Maybe somebody finally found him and took him to the hospital." I nodded to convince myself.

... Maybe you're calling me incredibly stupid and ignorant right now for blatantly ignoring the fact that something 'out-of-the-world' has obviously worked here, or thinking about 'logical' in the midst of this crazy paranormal shits. But right now, I'm in serious need of something normal to latch onto to make sure my brain didn't get fried for over-capacity.

"Maybe I'll go to the nearest hospital around here to find him. Hopefully, he can still be saved." I resolved myself and started walking to find Issei.

When suddenly...

"Shinji-nii..." I heard one sound calling my name from behind me, and I froze completely. Cold-sweat immediately drenched my back. I only knew one person who would call me like that, and the idea of her being here terrified me to the very core.

I slowly turned to find that person. And yep... it was Yui. She's looking at me worriedly while clutching her hands in front of her chest.

Silent swallowed us for a minute, as we both seemed don't know how to comprehend with this situation. The only thing that's racing inside my mind right now was, how f*cked I would be if Yui saw all of that.

"Nii, what are you doing here, looking like that?"

... It's exactly when she said that, I lost all the hope and my vision suddenly turned dark.

* * *

XXXXXXX (Issei POV) XXXXXXX

* * *

Crimson red...

That's the only color dominating my vision right now, as my consciousness slowly fading away.

"Thanks for this date, Issei-kun~ I certainly won't forget this~"

I recognized one sweet voice resounding in my ears. So sweet in fact, I couldn't help but being enticed by it at first.

But now, hearing that voice somehow felt like having a bucket full of poison being dumped straight into my ears.

"If you want to blame somebody, just blame the God for putting that sacred gear in your body."

One unknown word came out from her mouth. One word that I'd figured I wouldn't have to care about, because even as stupid as I am, I knew I was about to die.

...

...

...

Today was supposed to be perfect. I had a date with my girlfriend, Amano Yuuma-chan, today. I had planned this since days ago, and thus I was very excited about this. As this was my first date ever, I had trained by reading a dating site or magazine about tips & trick for dating, so I could at least not embarrass myself.

I'd also secretly hoped that if we managed to get through this date safely, I could be more... intimate, maybe, in my relationship with her. Because hey! What's the point of going out if I can't tap that boobs or ass, right?

Yuuma-chan wasn't disappointing me, either. The casual clothes that she wore today were absolutely good on her. We went to shopping district, and generally enjoying ourselves. I tried my best along the way to not showing any of my perverted tendencies (even if the sight of her cleavage is really too good to be missed), and I even bought her a present to commemorate our first date.

As the climax, we visited a park near the shopping district. There, I mustered up my courage and managed to hold her hands (Hurray for me!) I was so happy when I saw her small blush when I did that, indicating that she's enjoying it too.

We walked hand-in-hand for in silence for a few minutes, before we arrived in front of the fountain.

"Nee, Issei-kun, will you listen to my one wish to celebrate our first date?"

My heart raced so fast when I heard her saying that. After all, in this kind of situation, what else would she ask beside kiss, right? I couldn't help but blushing as I stood rigidly with a small grin on my face, while faithfully waiting for her word.

"Will you die for me?"

...

... And as fast as she said that, shit went down the drain almost immediately.

While I was still trying to tell whether I heard wrongly or not, suddenly the sky turned dark. No, not 'pitch black' kinda dark; but instead deep purple kind. The situation was so weird I couldn't help but gasping.

But my surprise didn't end there.

All of sudden, Yuuma-chan clothes got torn off completely and immediately got replaced by some kind of sexy, black bondage suit. There were also wings; big black wings sprouted out from her back. Her expression changed 180 degrees, from sweet and compassionate to downright cruel and sadistic.

But I, being a healthy 16-year-old teenager that I exactly am, could only stressed out how much that process would've definitely made me nosebleed and praised the lord to no end if the situation wasn't that much scary.

I mean, she was practically NAKED when that transformation happened! Her beautiful figure was being laid bare in front of my eyes! And her new bondage suit also didn't cover much, either. So of course, as a good and healthy teenager, I couldn't help but staring at her voluptuous breast, plump ass, slim waist, and...

... ehemm, sorry, I got side-tracked.

Anyway, after that very moment, I didn't really get what the heck she was blabbering about, until to the point when she project a very real, very big violet blade out of thin air. Then, immediately proceeded to stab me in the gut with it.

...

... No, I'm not joking.

I coughed up blood before finally collapsed. I could only stare at the nothingness as I kept hearing her spewing nonsense I couldn't care about. My vision was tinted red, and the pain in my stomach had started to turn into numbness. I honestly couldn't give a damn anymore.

... Until I heard my name being shouted.

"ISSEEIII!"

" _Wh-who?"_ I tried to speak, but my voice wouldn't come out.

I heard Yuuma-chan (or should I even call her that by now?) addressing the person who'd called my name aggressively. The next moment, I felt something roughly pressing on my head.

"GET YOUR FEET OFF HIM, YOU BITCH!"

_*FLAP* *WHUUSHHH* *BRUUKKK*_

I heard a familiar guy's scream, though I wasn't sure who. Following that, the pressure in my head disappeared, and I heard something hit the ground very hardly.

I still couldn't recognize the guy's voice, even though I'm pretty sure I knew this voice somewhere. I again heard both of them talked to each other before...

_*JLEBB*_

The wet sound of something sharp piercing another solid thing rang clearly from nearby. I heard another monologue, then another argument. Before long, I could hear a faint _*duakk* sound_ ; like someone'd just got punched; followed by a girl's shriek.

I wanted to call out for the guy to stop. I don't want someone to get hurt because of me, especially not someone I know. But the pain in my stomach and all the blood loss prevented me from doing anything. _"I'm tired of this,"_ I thought sadly, as I seriously was about to give up there and finally closed my eyes for good.

When suddenly... my hands were held by someone.

" _..."_ I couldn't do anything as my hands were folded on my chest and my shoulder was gripped gently. I also heard a small whisper directed to me.

" _Hang in there, man. I know you're tougher than you look. I'm gonna get you after I'm done with this problem."_

" _... This voice,"_ I pondered. _"Is this..."_

"NOBODY MESSES WITH MY FRIEND, YOU BASTARD!"

" _...Shinji?"_ I recognized that sound, though I never heard him letting out a guttural roar as scary as that one. It's someone from my school, my newest friend-turned-arch nemesis, Kido Shinji.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

After that, I could vaguely identify some curses, mocking words, and most importantly, a lot, lot of stabbing and breaking sound. I was honestly surprised I didn't get caught in any of them.

I still wasn't sure what was going on here. But after hearing Shinji's supportive words and his vengeful roar, a small determination started burning in my heart once again.

" _Dammit, I don't want to die like this,"_ I bitterly muttered in my heart. _"I still haven't done many things. I haven't had my first kiss yet. I still haven't graduated from being virgin yet. I still haven't touch any boobs or asses yet."_

" _But most importantly, I haven't thanked him yet!"_

_*NGGUUNNGGG... WHUSSHHH...*_

All of sudden, I faintly saw a bright red light emanating from beside me. But as I was still too weak to move my head, I failed to see anything.

"You're the one who called me, yeah?"

Somebody suddenly talked to me. As my vision was still blurry, and I still couldn't move, I said nothing in response.

"Hmm... it's really you, after all," I could know from the voice that it was in fact, a female. Why would someone decide to talk to the dying corpse like me instead of freaking out or calling an ambulance or something, I don't know. It's not like I could protest to her too.

"And what's happening to this place? It's a mess," That female voice talked again. "Is it... your doing?" She once again addressed me. Once again, I didn't respond.

"Hmm... interesting," I could detect amusement in her voice, like she's looking at something funny. "If you're already strong enough too cause this much ruckus now, I guess your power is really special, after all."

Her slightly chuckling sound was accompanied by wind blowing past. Only then, I could identify one specific trait of this woman.

"Alright, now that you're about to die anyway, I will pick up your life."

Crimson Red Hair... fluttering majestically.

"Starting today, your life is mine!"

... And that's the last thing I heard before I fell unconscious.

**Author's Note:**

> And... that's it for the prologue.
> 
> A little too short, I know. But I promise the next chapter will be much longer than this
> 
> Alright, I'm GEStorm signing off for now!


End file.
